Healthy Skepticism Library item: 17420

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Burton TM
Abbott to Offer Humira Free To Some Medicare Recipients
The Wall Street Journal 2003 Jan 7
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1041892019490109864.html?mod=googlewsj

Full text:

Abbott Laboratories, launching a salvo in the marketing war over rheumatoid-arthritis drugs, is offering its new drug Humira free to senior citizens who lack prescription-drug benefits.

The North Chicago, Ill., medical company is betting that its unusually aggressive position will enable Humira to seize market share quickly as a new entry in the highly competitive $3 billion market for rheumatoid-arthritis drugs.

The first line of therapy in treatment of rheumatoid arthritis is the relatively inexpensive generic methotrexate, an immunosuppressant. But methotrexate becomes ineffective for about half of patients, creating a huge market for branded drugs.

Currently that market is dominated by Johnson & Johnson’s Remicade and Enbrel, marketed by Amgen Inc. and Wyeth.

The federal Food and Drug Administration approved Humira on Dec. 31, and Abbott wants to place it quickly into the hands of sufferers.

Abbott is hoping that its free-drug gamble will pay off if Congress approves a Medicare prescription-drug benefit.

In that event, patients could soon have the drug paid for by the federal government.

“The program is directed at people who couldn’t afford the drug and don’t have insurance,” said Abbott’s chairman and chief executive, Miles D. White, in an interview. “We want to ensure that there is access to the drug.”

Abbott acquired rights to the drug, formerly called D2E7, when it bought the Knoll Pharmaceutical unit of Germany’s BASF AG.

Remicade, administered intravenously, does have such federal reimbursement and thus tends to be the drug of choice for the elderly.

Enbrel and Humira are taken as shots, but not intravenously, so they don’t qualify for Medicare reimbursement.

All three drugs are expensive, underscoring the potential need for a broad prescription-drug benefit for senior citizens in the federal Medicare insurance program.

The American College of Rheumatology estimates that, depending on dosage and frequency, Remicade costs between $13,940 and $36,694 a year. The rheumatology group estimates the cost of Enbrel at $15,436 annually, and Abbott has said the cost of Humira will be identical to that of Enbrel.

Despite Abbott’s no-cost offer, most Humira patients are still likely to be covered by private insurance. Morgan Stanley analyst Glenn Reicin estimates that only about 15% of Remicade patients are on Medicare, as opposed to private insurance.

Remicade is expected to generate about $1.6 billion in sales this year, and Enbrel nearly $1.4 billion. Mr. Reicin is estimating about $250 million in sales this year for Humira.

Humira is given every two weeks, while Enbrel is administered twice a week.