Roche trumpeted a “major advertvancement” within the retinal area with the approval of its eye drug Susvimo final October, touting it as a extra manageready option for patients with moist age-related macular degeneration. However, securety concerns depart some physicians hesitant.
Whereas most ophthalmologists have heard of Susvimo — 86%, actwineing to the latest Spherix survey of 76 doctors — only one in ten believe the benesuits completely outweigh the dangers. And a majority of the respondents stated they’d flip to Regeneron’s Eylea as a safer and extra accessible option.
Susvimo snagged an FDA win again in October, only a month after regulators cleared the primary biosimilar to Roche’s blockbuster Lucentis. Unlike Lucentis’ monthly injections — or Eylea’s 8- to 12-month injections — the Susvimo implant is inserted within the eye during a one-time outpatient professionalcedure, and only must be restuffed each six months.
“With Susvimo, my patients now have an option that may assist them most importanttain their vision in addition to anti-VEGF injections, however on a extra manageready twice-yearly deal withment schedule,” stated Carl Regillo, an investigator on the Section III Susvimo examine.
Ophthalmologists acknowledged this benematch, with a 3rd of them nameing the drug a “substantial advertvance to the market.” And two-fifths of doctors who prescribed Susvimo cited a decreased deal withment burden as their most important reason. However Roche nonetheless has a number of work to do before it catches as much as Eylea — if it ever does.
Eylea has dominated the diawageric macular edema and moist age-related macular degeneration markets for close toly a decade — and physicians suspect it’ll continue to beat out Lucentis, Susvimo and Roche’s other eye contender Vabysmo over the following six months. Only two of 5 physicians stated they plan on prescribing Susvimo for the primary time within the subsequent six months, whereas another quarter of physicians stated they expect to attend seven months to a 12 months.
Of these hesitant to prescribe Susvimo, most cited securety and tolerability concerns, followed by reimbursement uncertainty.
Within the Section III Archmethod trial, Susvimo was associated with a three-fold excessiveer charge of endophthalmitis, or severe inflammation of the tissues inaspect the attention, compared to patients receiving monthly Lucentis injections. Probably the most common aspect effects had been conjunctival hemorrhage, conjunctival hyperemia, iritis and eye ache, Roche reported final 12 months.
Roche learn out long-term data for Susvimo again in February, reporting that 95% of patients had been capable of most importanttain a six-month deal withment schedule. At two years, essentially the most common aspect effects of “special interest” had been cataract, conjunctival bleb and vitreous haemorrhage, Roche stated.
Susvimo raked in simply under $1 million (CHF 1 million) final quarter, actwineing to Roche. Implywhereas, Eylea noticed $1.5 billion in gross sales, a 13% increase over the primary quarter of final 12 months.
Don’t depend Susvimo out simply but. Almost half of the patients who switched to Susvimo had been previously deal withed with Eylea, actwineing to Spherix. And of the doctors who prescribed it, none reported dissatisfaction. Close toly two-fifths reported “extreme satisfaction,” whereas the remaining stated they had been moderately satisfied.
