Genzyme Looks to Carve Out Market Share for Renvela

Current Acceptance

Given the competition—even within its own company, to an extent—it’s not a sure bet that Renvela will be used or even accepted by the renal community. A May 23 BioTrends report found that Renvela is well known in the renal community but that many caregivers had yet to prescribe Renvela to patients.

Despite the slow adoption, however, the report found that many physicians and dietitians expect Renvela to be used more in the coming months among dialysis and CKD patients.

Most of the current Renvela use has been with patients who were switched to it from Renagel or who were just starting to take phosphate binders, according to BioTrends. There have, however, been some patients switched from competitor products to Renvela.

Reimbursement was one major issue BioTrends said was a barrier to entry for Renvela. “We have been successful in getting reimbursement for Renagel, and now we’re working on that for Renvela,” Butler said. “We’ve almost had more success in managed care.”

Genzyme representatives seemed to have ramped up their product promotion, especially compared to their competitors—Fresenius and Shire, according to BioTrends’ research. The report said the promotions have centered in Renvela’s similarity to Renagel, but with fewer incidences of acidosis and better GI tolerability.

That promotional perception is no mistake. Genzyme expanded its sales organization to support Renvela’s launch. There are about 150 sales representatives in the field, according to Butler. “We added about 35 people, just to give us more share of voice in the marketplace,” he said.

Moving Ahead

Currently, all phosphate binders are FDA-approved for use in end-stage renal disease patients, but that could change, as Genzyme has plans to expand Renvela’s use in chronic kidney disease patients not on dialysis. The prospects for this are promising for all the companies involved in this drug class, especially after an FDA panel late last year voted in favor of extending its use to non-dialysis CKD patients.

All three companies worked together with the FDA panel in the discussion; now, the dialogue with the FDA is about who the appropriate patients are for this treatment. “We’re working together with two companies, the regulatory and clinical groups to help the FDA answer that question,” Butler said. “It’s a positive dialogue, and it’s unique to have three competitors working together toward what could be called class labeling. It’s really been quite positive.” RBT