Lack of government funding in Brazil and Mexico holds back use off DPP-IV diabetes drugs

The majority of type 2 diabetes patients in Brazil and Mexico rely heavily or entirely on government-sponsored medical programs to cover their treatment costs. However, most public health care programs in Mexico do not provide coverage for DPP-IV inhibitors, and public coverage for these drugs in Brazil is nonexistent, notes a new report from Decision Resources.

Consequently, prescribing of DPP-IV inhibitors is uncommon in the public setting in both countries, particularly in Brazil where surveyed clinicians report that just 12% of publically-funded patients currently receive a DPP-IV inhibitor. Several DPP-IV inhibitors have launched in Brazil and Mexico in the past six years including Merck & Co’s Januvia sitagliptin) and Janumet (sitagliptin/metformin, Novartis’s Galvus (vildagliptin) and Galvus Met, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Onglyza (saxagliptin) and, most recently, Boehringer Ingelheim’s Tradjenta (linagliptin).

Decision Resources’ new Emerging Markets Physician & Payer Forum report, titled Oral Therapies for Type 2 Diabetes: Physician and Payer Perspectives on Market Dynamics in Brazil and Mexico, also finds that manufacturers of DPP-IV inhibitors in Brazil and Mexico have their own patient assistance programs offering up to 50% discounts on their drugs. However, payers indicate - and clinician survey findings confirm - that even with the discounted price, treatment with DPP-IV inhibitors is still inaccessible to most patients covered by public health care programs.