Sanofi and Regeneron achieved a modest victory with the much anticipated ODYSSEY Outcomes trial of its cholesterol lowering drug Praluent (alirocumab). The trial met its primary endpoint and even reported a significant improvement in all-cause mortality. But the mortality finding has an asterisk attached to it and it is far from clear whether the overall…
Pharma Phantasy: The $30 Billion PCSK9 Inhibitor Market
August 8, 2017 by 2 Comments
–Drug company dreams up a study showing all the benefits and none of the costs or risks of PCSK9 inhibitors. Here’s a pro tip for pushing a drug (or, indeed, any aggressive treatment or screening strategy): focus exclusively on the benefits, even if they are modest at best, and completely ignore side effects and costs….
Court Decision In Patent Battle Threatens PCSK9 Drug
March 23, 2016 by Leave a Comment
—-One analyst thinks the decision might take Praluent off the market. A jury’s decision last week in a patent case might possibly lead to the removal of one of the new PCSK9 inhibitor cholesterol lowering drugs from the US market, according to a Wall Street analyst who has been closely following the case. Amgen, which…
Amgen Denies Rumors About PCSK9 Inhibitors (Updated)
December 19, 2015 by 1 Comment
(Updated) Amgen says there is no truth to the rumor that the FDA is investigating post-marketing reports of serious brain infections in patients taking PCSK9 inhibitors. The Amgen statement was in response to this anonymous post on CafePharma: “The FDA informed Amgen and Regeneron today that there have been a number of post marketing reports…
Desperately Seeking Patients: New Cholesterol Drug Makers Fuel Research To Find Customers
October 15, 2015 by 3 Comments
Everyone expects that the makers of the new PCSK9 inhibitor cholesterol lowering drugs are going to make billions and billions of dollars from these innovative new drugs. But before that can happen the companies that make the drugs will need to find the patients who will take the drug. To help find these patients a central strategy…
‘Cardiology On A Collision Course With Specialty Pharmaceutical Pricing Models’
October 7, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The recent approval of two new expensive cholesterol drugs “sets the practice of cardiology on a collision course with specialty pharmaceutical pricing models that were previously reserved for drugs that benefited relatively limited patient populations,” according to the authors of a perspective published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Until now cardiologists and other doctors treating the…
New Cholesterol Drugs Gain Entry To Large Formulary
October 6, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The two big and expensive new cholesterol drugs that everyone is talking about have both been added to the national preferred formulary of Express Scripts, the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit manager. The drugs– alirocumab (Praluent, from Regeneron and Sanofi) and evolocumab (Repatha, from Amgen)– are potent but expensive drugs that inhibit PCSK9 and dramatically lower LDL cholesterol. Both drugs…
ESC 2015 Set To Start In London
August 28, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The European Society of Cardiology meeting starts this weekend in London. Merrie Olde Englande? Industry will be here too. …
FDA Approval Of Second PCSK9 Inhibitor Expected Soon
August 24, 2015 by 1 Comment
The FDA has until Thursday, August 27 to make its decision about Repatha (evolocumab), Amgen’s much anticipated cholesterol lowering PCSK9 inhibitor. The drug is widely expected to gain approval. Last month the FDA approved Praluent (alirocumab), Sanofi’s and Regeneron’s similar drug. Beyond approval the major questions that should be answered this week concern the drug’s label…
More Preliminary Signs That PCSK9 Inhibitors May Improve Outcomes
April 27, 2015 by Leave a Comment
More information about the highly anticipated new cholesterol lowering drugs from Amgen and Sanofi/Regeneron emerged today. A new new analysis of available data from early trials with PCSK9 inhibitors adds to the growing evidence showing that the drugs– Amgen’s evolocumab and Sanofi’s alirocumab– dramatically lower LDL cholesterol and offers additional preliminary evidence showing that they are safe and may confer a…
Should You Be Worried About The Neurocognitive Side Effects Of The New Cholesterol Drugs?
March 16, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The big news yesterday was important additional information about the new cholesterol lowering PCSK9 inhibitors from Amgen and Sanofi/Regeneron. As I reported then, the studies were broadly consistent, showing the powerful cholesterol-lowering effects of the drugs and providing an early suggestion that the drugs may lead to significant reductions in heart attacks, stroke, and other cardiovascular events. But one finding, though not…
No, The New Cholesterol Drugs From Sanofi And Amgen Aren’t Going To Cost $150 Billion A Year
February 18, 2015 by Leave a Comment
In an article on the Health Affairs blog 4 CVS executives speculate that the new cholesterol lowering PCSK9 inhibitors from Amgen and Sanofi might achieve yearly sales of $150 billion or even higher. I think these numbers are a bit silly. But first let’s take a look at their extremely bullish case…. … Click here to read the full post on Forbes. …
Sanofi And Regeneron Leapfrog Amgen In New Cholesterol Drug Race
January 26, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Early on Monday Sanofi and Regeneron leapfrogged their rival Amgen to gain leadership in the race to bring a new class of cholesterol drugs to market. The new development could potentially give Sanofi and Regeneron a month on the market by itself before facing competition from Amgen. Sanofi and Regeneron announced early on Monday that the FDA had accepted for priority review the Biologics…
At the American Heart Association Meeting You Really Can’t Escape The New Cholesterol Drugs
November 15, 2014 by 1 Comment
There’s no escaping them. At the American Heart Association in Chicago going on right now Amgen and Sanofi/Regeneron, which are developing competing cholesterol lowering drugs known as PCSK9 inhibitors, have mounted a full scale attack to capture the eyeballs and the brains of cardiologists and any other innocent bystanders who happen to be at the…
Early Hint At Cardiovascular Outcomes With Sanofi’s and Regeneron’s Rapidly Advancing Cholesterol Drug
August 31, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Amid a slew of new data demonstrating yet again that PCSK9 inhibitors lower LDL cholesterol– drastically and in a wide variety of different patient populations– data from one trial offers the first suggestion that the drugs may in fact improve cardiovascular outcomes. But the analysis, the authors cautioned, is a post-hoc analysis of a trial neither…
The Fate Of New Cholesterol Drugs Depends On IMPROVE-IT
November 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Prospects for the highly anticipated new class of cholesterol-lowering drugs, the PCSK9 inhibitors, took a wild roller coaster ride this week. The publication of new lipid guidelines by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology led many observers to think that the promising new drugs under development by Regeneron (in partnership with Sanofi),…
Seeking Cardiovascular Safety Data, FDA Blocks Approval Of Novo Nordisk’s Long-Acting Insulin
February 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The FDA informed Novo Nordisk on Friday that it would not approve the company’s highly anticipated long-acting insulin degludec products (Tresiba and Ryzodeg) until it receives data from a cardiovascular outcomes trial. Approval of the drugs had been widely anticipated for this year, following a positive recommendation from an FDA advisory committee last fall. But…
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