European neurologists view Rxing of Biogen Idec's BG-12, Sanofi's Aubagio and Sanofi/Bayer's Lemtrada

More than 85% of surveyed neurologists in the European Union-5 (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK) expect to prescribe three late-stage emerging disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) for multiple sclerosis - Biogen Idec’s BG-12, Sanofi/Genzyme’s Aubagio  (teriflunomide) and Sanofi/Genzyme/Bayer HealthCare’s Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) - assuming that all three drugs successfully launch, according to a new report from health care advisory firm Decision Resources.

However, interviewed payers anticipate these and later-to-market emerging multiple sclerosis therapies will face growing market access challenges in the EU5 as health authorities continue to tighten controls on pricing and reimbursement in response to increasing pressure to curb pharmaceutical expenditure - including mounting costs driven by high-cost, specialty pharmaceutical markets such as multiple sclerosis.

BG-12 expected to garner biggest share of patients