Acorda's Ampyra Continues to Gain Traction and Both Breadth and Depth of Adoption are Expected to Increase Over the Next Six Months

EXTON, Pa., Sept. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- BioTrends released the second wave of LaunchTrends^®: Ampyra, a three wave syndicated report series designed to track the uptake of Acorda's Ampyra. In the current wave of research, which measures success at the four month post launch mark for Ampyra, BioTrends surveyed 85 neurologists in late July 2010 and conducted qualitative interviews with a subset of 20 of the respondents in early August 2010.

Awareness and interest in Ampyra remains high and use of the product is on the rise. As the first FDA-approved product for the management of a multiple sclerosis (MS) symptom, three-quarters of neurologists surveyed have prescribed Ampyra with its uniqueness (e.g., indication, oral formulation, etc) seen as the greatest advantage. As in the previous wave, product access due to managed care constraints continues to be a challenge, although perceptions of both the managed care process and the Ampyra patient support service is improving. Patient requests, an early driver of physician trial, play a less significant role in prescription initiation four months after launch. The core efficacy and unique indication messages reportedly discussed during Ampyra details seem to resonate strongly with neurologists. Substantial increases in Ampyra patient share are anticipated to continue over the next six months.

BioTrends will continue to track the uptake of Ampyra in the final wave of this report series which will be published in November. Assuming Novartis's pending oral MS therapy Gilenia is approved, BioTrends plans to field LaunchTrends^®: Gilenia, a three wave report series following product uptake in the first six months. MS market dynamics will also be measured in upcoming syndicated reports including TreatmentTrends^®: Multiple Sclerosis and ChartTrends^®: Multiple Sclerosis, a 1,000+ patient chart review that compares actual treatment patterns with self-reported physician response.

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SOURCE BioTrends Research Group, Inc.