One in Four Surveyed EU5 Physicians Has Been Required to Change a Prescription for Some or Most of Their HIV Patients in the Past Twelve Months, Primarily to Reduce Costs

BURLINGTON, Mass., June 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that, over the past 12 months, 25 percent of surveyed physicians from the EU5 (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) have been required to change the antiretroviral (ARV) prescription for some or most of their HIV patients, primarily to reduce costs. Additionally, more than 40 percent of respondents report that changing prescriptions is strongly encouraged or that they give preference to lower priced ARVs. These findings reflect the tightening healthcare budgets throughout the EU5 as over 20 percent of surveyed physicians indicate that their budgets for ARV treatments have decreased in the last year.  

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The new European Physician and Payer Forum report entitled The Approaching Cliff: How Will the Availability of Generic Antiretrovirals Impact the EU5 Prescribing and Reimbursement Landscape for Current and Emerging Brands in HIV? finds that surveyed physicians currently prescribe once-daily, single tablet regimens (STRs), such as Gilead/Bristol-Myers Squibb's Atripla and Gilead/Janssen's Eviplera to more than 40 percent of their HIV patients. Furthermore, despite cost containment efforts from payers and the upcoming generic availability of some STR components, the convenience of one pill dosed once daily, the recent launch of Gilead's integrase inhibitor-based STR Stribild, and the anticipated availability of ViiV's 572-Trii will drive respondents to expand use of STRs to half of their HIV patients by the end of 2014.

The report also finds that the serious public health threat posed by ongoing transmission of HIV and pushback from well-organized and influential patient advocates will constrain payers' ability to mandate use of cheaper multi-pill regimens. However, interviewed payers do believe that declining budgets and increasing numbers of patients requiring treatment will drive physicians to "break" coformulated, single pill products into multi-pill regimens to some extent in order to capture generic savings and meet their growing clinical burdens.

"Historically, new HIV agents have not been subjected to cost-effectiveness analyses owing to the serious public health threat posed by HIV infections and limited availability of effective drugs," said Decision Resources Analyst Seamus Levine-Wilkinson, Ph.D. "However, the pressure to reduce costs while providing treatment to more patients will drive increasingly stringent payer reviews in which competitive pricing and regionally tailored dossiers will play critical roles in securing formulary placement. Payers in the United Kingdom, in particular, warn that companies that resist price negotiations are being unrealistic and run the risk of losing out to more amenable drug developers."

About Decision Resources
Decision Resources (www.decisionresources.com) is a world leader in market research publications, advisory services and consulting designed to help clients shape strategy, allocate resources and master their chosen markets. Decision Resources is a Decision Resources Group company.

About Decision Resources Group
Decision Resources Group 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. Please visit Decision Resources Group at www.DecisionResourcesGroup.com.

All company, brand, or product names contained in this document may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

SOURCE Decision Resources

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