Surveyed Neurologists Anticipate That Less Than 30 Percent of Their Use of Emerging Oral Agents in Multiple Sclerosis Will be in the ...( Only 39 Percent of Newly Diagnosed Pa...),Health

Only 39 Percent of Newly Diagnosed Patients Receive a Drug Within One Year of Their First Diagnosis, According to a New Report from Decision Resources

WALTHAM, Mass., April 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms focusing on pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that surveyed neurologists anticipate that less than 30 percent of their use of emerging oral agents --- Merck Serono's oral cladribine, Novartis/Mitsubishi Pharma's fingolimod (FTY-720) --- for the treatment of multiple sclerosis will be in the first line. Surveyed neurologists expect to use these drugs in patients who refuse injectables, filling an important unmet need and potentially increasing the drug-treatment rate in newly diagnosed patients.

"Surveyed neurologists' responses suggest that Biogen Idec's Avonex is more at-risk than Teva's Copaxone of losing share upon the launch of either oral cladribine or fingolimod, as more physicians cite Avonex as having potential for being replaced by either emerging oral agent," stated Amanda Puffer, M.Sc., analyst at Decision Resources. "However, approximately half of the surveyed neurologists who are aware of these therapies are unsure if they will prescribe them, most likely because of uncertainty about these agents' side-effect/safety profiles."

The new report entitled Treatment Algorithms in Multiple Sclerosis also finds that only 38.8 percent of newly diagnosed patients receive a drug within one year of their first diagnosis. This highlights the substantial room for increased uptake of disease-modifying therapies in newly diagnosed patients. While surveyed neurologists indicate they prescribe disease-modifying therapies to the majority of relapsing-remitting patients (the dominant multiple sclerosi
'/>"/>