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Biotech / Medical : PFE (Pfizer) How high will it go? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Qualified Opinion who wrote (9103)	5/18/2006 8:13:41 PM
From: Qualified Opinion	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9523

Pfizer launches Macugen in the UK Last Updated: 2006-05-18 12:35:50 -0400 (Reuters Health) LONDON (Agence de Presse Medicale for Reuters Health) - Pfizer has launched its age-related macular degeneration (AMD) therapy, Macugen (pegaptanib) in the UK at a price of just below 4,500 pounds (6,600 euros) per year, the company said on Thursday. A UK spokeswoman for the company told APM each six-weekly injection would cost 514 pounds (761 euros) and treatment was indicated to continue for as long as it was showing benefit or for two years - the maximum duration of treatment the drug has approval for at the moment. However the spokeswoman suggested that Pfizer would look to extend this as longer-term data became available. "We have two-year data, patients can stay on the treatment for up to two years. That's how long our licence is (but) we are continuing research." The disease frequently develops in one eye only but there is a 43% risk of the illness affecting a second eye, in which case Macugen might be used in both eyes at the same time, she added. Macugen gained full European approval in February for use in the wet form of AMD and following this Pfizer stated its intention to launch across Europe before the end of the year. EUROPEAN ROLL-OUT SPEEDED UP A Pfizer spokesman in New York told APM this timetable broadly remained but now included nearly all EU countries by the end of the summer. Macugen was "being launched anytime now or in the process of launch" in 10 European countries, Germany, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Austria, Iceland, France and UK, he said. The spokesman could not confirm that the company had received a reimbursement price in all these countries but said: "This medicine is available and we are getting it out there to patients." The ambitious marketing strategy appears designed to take advantage of expected 12-month head-start the product has over Genentech/Novartis' rival Lucentis (ranibizumab), which was filed in the EU in March. ANOTHER TEST FOR UK SPENDING WATCHDOG NICE A report in the London Times on Thursday said England's local health bodies (PCTs) were already rejecting Macugen on the grounds of cost, arguing they could not fund the drug before it gained approval from the cost-effectiveness watchdog, NICE. Steve Winyard, Head of Research at charity the Royal National Institute of the Blind told the newspaper: "We already have evidence that this drug is not getting to patients because PCTs are hiding behind NICE, saying that they can't approve a treatment until NICE makes a ruling on its effectiveness." The front-page article follows growing discontent about the time taken by NICE to assess new products. Pressure has already forced the institute to speed up its exacting appraisals but patient pressure groups backed by pharma are increasingly publicly challenging any "no" judgement, such as the recent rejection of EPOs in cancer treatment-related anaemia. NICE's independence also appears to have been dented by government intervention on drugs including those for Alzheimer's and Herceptin in early breast cancer. Pfizer's UK spokeswoman said the company was "in close contact with NICE" but would not submit a cost-effectiveness dossier until August. It hoped NICE would endorse Macugen the following August. In a statement, NICE said it expected to issue guidance on both Macugen and Lucentis in August 2007 after the latter was licensed for use in the UK. Link: reutershealth.com