Celgene's Revlimid Will Generate $321 Million in Sales for the Multiple Myeloma Drug Market in 2009
Velcade Will Expand the Market as Its Off-Label Use in First-Line Therapy Grows, According to a New Study from Decision Resources
WALTHAM, Mass., June 22, 2005 /PRNewswire/ -- Decision Resources, Inc., one of the world's leading research and advisory firms focusing on pharmaceutical and health care issues, forecasts that sales of Celgene's Revlimid, an oral immunomodulatory agent for the treatment of multiple myeloma, will generate $321 million in sales in 2009. According to the new Pharmacor study entitled Multiple Myeloma, the anticipated approval of Revlimid for second-line therapy will considerably expand the multiple myeloma drug market thanks to its oral formulation and favorable toxicity profile that will encourage significant off-label use in first-line and maintenance therapy.
The study also finds that approval of Millennium Pharmaceuticals/Johnson & Johnson's Velcade (bortezomib) for first relapse in the United States and Europe will result in many more patients receiving this agent. The launch of bortezomib in Japan will also enhance sales of this agent.
"Per-patient drug consumption will increase across the major markets as some clinicians prescribe a wider range of drugs in first line," said Mary Argent-Katwala, Ph.D., analyst at Decision Resources, Inc. "Clinicians are already using bortezomib off label in this context, and we expect this use to increase. This strategy is in line with the view that early use of active therapies reduces the likelihood of selecting for resistant clones of myeloma cells."
Challenge: Improving Cure Rates for Multiple Myeloma
Currently, less than 5% of multiple myeloma patients are cured. Some clinicians believe that increasing the number of pharmacological agents used before stem cell transplantation will improve long-term survival rates. Others hope that transplantation will become a thing of the past as a large number of agents from a range of classes transform multiple myeloma into a chronic disease.
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