WALTHAM, Mass., April 26 Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that Celgene's Vidaza (azacitidine) (seven-day dosing) will retain Decision Resources' proprietary clinical gold standard status through 2013 for the treatment of high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes. While some emerging drugs in development hold promise, none offer significant survival advantages over Vidaza. A modified dosing schedule of Eisai's Dacogen (decitabine) comes close to displacing Vidaza as Decision Resources' next clinical gold standard but its lack of strong survival data and lower rate of hematological improvement keep it from doing so.
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The new report entitled Myelodysplastic Syndromes (High-Risk): Azacitidine's Position as Market Leader Will Not Be Usurped finds that a therapy's effect on overall survival is the attribute that most influences surveyed hematologists' prescribing decisions in high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes. Clinical data and the opinions of interviewed thought leaders indicate that current and emerging therapies have no advantage over sales-leading Vidaza on this attribute. Because the life expectancy for high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes patients is short, ranging from an average of 8.5 months to 41.9 months depending on disease subtype, a drug that could increase survival rates by 0.5 to 5.5 months would gain traction among surveyed hematologists. Surveyed hematologists also indicate that they seek improvements in remission rates, hematological improvement and red blood cell transfusion independence.
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"Celgene's Vidaza is the only drug for high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes that offers a confirmed benefit in overall survival and the first hypomethylating agent to reach the U.S. and European markets," stated Decision Resources' Analyst Andrew Merron, Ph.D. "Despite this efficacy achievement, surveyed hematologists indicate that there is still considerable unmet need in improving patient survival. Any future drug that proves a significant overall survival benefit over Vidaza and possesses an acceptable level of side effects will gain physician approval and a large portion of sales in the future."
About the Report
Myelodysplastic Syndromes (High-Risk): Azacitidine's Position as Market Leader Will Not Be Usurped is a DecisionBase 2010 report. DecisionBase 2010 is a decision-support tool that provides in-depth analysis of unmet need, physician expectations of new therapies and commercial dynamics to help pharmaceutical companies optimize their investments in drug development.
About Decision Resources
Decision Resources (www.DecisionResources.com) is a world leader in market research publications, advisory services and consulting designed to help clients shape strategy, allocate resources and master their chosen markets. Decision Resources is a Decision Resources, Inc. company.
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SOURCE Decision Resources
