One-Third of U.S. Primary Care Physicians and Cardiologists Do Not Currently Prescribe Treatment to Meet HDL Cholesterol Targets as Recommended By National ...( Although Two-Thirds of Surveyed Phy...),Health

Although Two-Thirds of Surveyed Physicians Anticipate an Increase in the Number of Patients Treated for Low HDL Over the Next Two years, 19 Percent

of Surveyed MCOs Will Not Add Novel HDL Drugs to Their Formularies,

According to a New Report from Decision Resources

WALTHAM, Mass., March 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that approximately one-third of surveyed primary care physicians (PCPs) and cardiologists do not consider it necessary to treat low high- density lipoprotein (HDL) until patients' HDL levels drop below the recommended threshold established by the U.S. National Cholesterol Education Program's Adult Treatment Panel III guidelines.

The new Physician & Payer Forum primary market research report entitled Are Payers and Physicians Ready for a Paradigm Shift in Preventive Cardiology? An Assessment of Current and Future Use of HDL-Targeting Therapies finds that most surveyed PCPs and cardiologists anticipate that the number of patients treated for low HDL will increase due to the launch of new HDL-raising therapies. These drugs, which offer improved tolerability and/or efficacy compared with currently available agents, include Merck's Cordaptive, Merck's MK-0524B and novel agents such as Merck's anacetrapib and Roche's dalcetrapib. However, 19 percent of surveyed managed care organizations' (MCOs) pharmacy directors said that they would not add any novel HDL drug to their private plan formularies. The report finds that MCOs have lower efficacy expectations than physicians do for new HDL-raising therapies and are more willing to trade off improvements in efficacy in return for treatments that offer better safety and tolerability.

"MCO pharmacy directors say that the most important key factors that would affect their willingness to include a novel HDL-raising therapy into their private plan formularies incl
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