For Emerging Therapies in the Treatment of Hepatitis C Virus, First-to-Market Status Will Be Important To Formulary Inclusion

NASHVILLE, Tenn. and GLEN ROCK, N.J., May 10 /PRNewswire/ -- HealthLeaders-InterStudy and Fingertip Formulary find that only about half (53 percent) of surveyed pharmacy directors expect their health plans to cover both Merck's boceprevir and Vertex/Johnson & Johnson/Mitsubishi Tanabe's telaprevir, when they enter the market for the treatment of the hepatitis C virus. According to the new report, Formulary Advantages Among Hepatitis C Virus Therapies: Pharmacy Directors Do Not Yet Understand the Pharmacoeconomic Incentives to Cover Emerging Therapies, approximately one-third of surveyed pharmacy directors expect to cover one of these drugs, but have not determined which one.

Surveyed pharmacy directors estimate approximately one-third of hepatitis C virus patients fail drug therapy. Additionally, pharmacy directors say they expect an average of 58 percent of their patients who fail drug therapy will seek additional therapy when new agents reach the market.

"While there is a need for emerging therapies for those hepatitis C virus patients who have failed therapy with existing drugs, the second-to-market status will hamper uptake of whichever brand reaches the market second, because some health plans will only include either boceprevir or telaprevir on formulary," said Michael Malecki, Ph.D., product director, Formulary Forum. "However, there's a high percentage of pharmacy directors who do not know the costs associated with drug failure. Surveyed national health plans that do have an estimate for the cost of treatment failure report spending an average of $138,000 over the lifetime of a hepatitis C virus patient who fails drug therapy. For marketers of emerging therapies, pharmacoeconomic analyses of these costs may be persuasive tools to gain formulary inclusion."

The new Formulary Forum report is based on a survey of 51 U.S. pharmacy directors who control formularies at national, regional and state-level managed care organizations, as well as historical formulary data from Fingertip Formulary.

About Fingertip Formulary

Fingertip Formulary (www.FingertipFormulary.com), the leading provider of access to and insight into formulary data in the United States, offers comprehensive formulary data covering commercial, Medicaid, Medicare and PBM plans, among others. Fingertip Formulary is a Decision Resources, Inc. company.

About HealthLeaders-InterStudy

HealthLeaders-InterStudy, a Decision Resources, Inc. company, is the authoritative source for managed care data, analysis and news. For more information, please visit www.HL-ISY.com.

About Decision Resources, Inc.

Decision Resources, Inc. is a cohesive portfolio of companies that offers best-in-class, high-value information and insights on important sectors of the healthcare industry. Clients rely on this analysis and data to make informed decisions. Both HealthLeaders-InterStudy and Fingertip Formulary are Decision Resources, Inc. companies. Please visit Decision Resources, Inc. at www.DecisionResourcesInc.com.

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SOURCE HealthLeaders-InterStudy; Fingertip Formulary