EXTON, Pa.—A large number on nephrologists and surgeons are wary of generic transplant drugs and question their quality in the care of transplant patients, according to survey results released Aug. 26 by BioTrends Research.
In general, only about one-fifth of transplant nephrologists and surgeons surveyed by BioTrends are accepting of generic immunosuppressive therapies, and over one-half agree that they are concerned about the quality of generic medications in the care of transplant patients.
Novartis’s Myfortic seems to be gaining ground from these concerns as over one-quarter of physicians report an increase in the use of the product in the past year, primarily at the expense of Roche/Genentech’s CellCept, in order to avoid generic substitution, according to BioTrends.
This report is based on online survey results from over 150 physicians (general nephrologists, transplant nephrologists and transplant surgeons).
Another trend in the field is the desire to decrease the use of steroids and calcineurin inhibitors with the majority of physicians reporting a high desire to minimize use and approximately 15 percent reporting a decrease in their use of steroids in the past year, according to BioTrends.
BioTrends said the desire to minimize the use of calcineurin inhibitors (CNI) could be positive for Bristol-Myers Squibb if belatacept, currently under FDA review, is approved, as CNI avoidance is the greatest perceived advantage of the product. While the majority of those who are relatively familiar with the product expect at least some use, there are safety and dosing concerns that the company will have to overcome. While many physicians are still relatively unfamiliar with newcomer Zortress (everolimus) from Novartis, an increase in market share, as well as in the user base, is expected in the next six months.
