Impact of Avandia restrictions could benefit Januvia, Byetta and Victoza, US physician survey reveals

Following the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) decision last month to suspend the marketing authorization for UK drug giant GlaxoSmithKline’s (LSE: GSK) type 2 diabetes drug Avandia (rosiglitazone), and the US Food and Drug Administration imposing additional restrictions on the drug due to its cardiovascular side effects (The Pharma Letter September 24), health care research group Datamonitor has surveyed a group of US physicians who currently prescribe Avandia products, to find out what effect the FDA restrictions on the product’s sales would have on their prescribing habits.

Datamonitor asked physicians what proportions of current and prospective Avandia users will change medications, and to which therapies these patients will be switched. Key findings include:

• Avandia sales will drop to zero in Europe by 2011 when marketing authorization is suspended. In the USA, Avandia sales will plummet due to safety concerns and FDA restrictions, but Datamonitor predicts a small number of patients will remain on Avandia because they cannot tolerate other therapies.