DISQUS

piotr · 2 years ago

Very interesting, if very sad, piece.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Bayer have a Phase 3 trial for their VEGF Trap in wet AMD, in direct comparison with Lucentis. Assuming things work out for them, doesn't it mean that DNA is just trying to make a few extra bucks while it can, but the price will eventually go down?

Steve Cowen · 2 years ago

This is the most one sided article I've seen in awhile. So much for fair balance news reporting. What's sad is the the writer of this article who thinks this is good journalism.

This is trash!

David P. Hamilton · 2 years ago

OK, fair enough to anyone who accuses me of being shocked that a drug company might be interested in making money. Look, I wrote for the WSJ for 14 years -- of course I understand that drug companies need to make a profit, and I have no problem with that. I do object to the lofty humanitarianism some companies adopt -- which, in fact, frequently leads to them being offended if you don't accept it at face value -- when in fact their actions are often at odds with the "patient-centered" values they claim to hold. Maybe their corporate mission statements should all bear an asterisk referring to a footnote that reads, "So long as it doesn't conflict with the interests of our shareholders." At least that would be truth in advertising.

Steve Cowen -- no relation to the S.G. Cowen who founded the firm Eric Schmidt works for, I assume -- I'd be happy to address your argument on the merits, if in fact you were to offer any. If you'd like to state your objections more specifically, I'd be more than pleased to address them.

Irv Arons · 2 years ago

It looks like Senator Herb Kohl may come to the rescue. As Chairman of the Senate's Special Committee on Aging, he has asked the CMS to look into the price differential between Avastin and Lucentis. (This comes from the WSJ's Health Blog, which I have reproduced on my web Journal -- on which I have been following the Avistan vs Lucentis controversy for over a year. I now have 19 postings on the subject.)

The link to the Sen. Kohl update (No. 19) is:

http://irvaronsjournal.blogspot.com/2007/10/ava...

David, with your publishers permission, I have also reproduced your commentary on my blog. It is Update No. 18.

Dr. Philip Rosenfeld, the initiator of the use of Avastin for AMD thought that your writeup was particularly good -- he remembers talking to you two years ago.

Irv Arons

David P. Hamilton · 2 years ago

Thanks, Irv. I'll check it out.

Piotr, I apologize for not responding to you earlier. The Regeneron drug could be a direct competitor to Lucentis, although it's worth remembering that other VEGF inhibitors -- specifically Eyetech's Macugen -- appear not to have worked anywhere near as well as either Lucentis or Avastin. Even if VEGF Trap is effective in wet AMD, I'd be surprised if a real price war breaks out, since we very rarely see those in the pharma and biotech industries. But that's a subject for another day.

David P. Hamilton · 2 years ago

Piotr: That's what I get for not following your link prior to commenting. D'oh!

Anyway, the VEGF Trap phase II data do look pretty interesting, although I believe Macugen also had some pretty impressive phase II results involving vision improvement that the company was never able to replicate in phase III. So the cautionary tales still abound.

piotr · 2 years ago

I guess it is not easy to balance the best interests of patients and shareholders. I am really happy to see this discussion here, because in my view biotech and pharma are overdue for a little paradigm adjustment. Hopefully I am not the only one who is sick and tired of all the drug commercials claiming the unconditional love of the poor patient, while the real motivation is the multimillion compensation packages for top executives.

Joe · 2 years ago

"The move will almost certainly crimp the availability of the drug for the roughly half of elderly AMD patients who have been using it as an alternative to Lucentis."

David, what was your source on this? Just curious...

David P. Hamilton · 2 years ago

Joe, Genentech said in its most recent conference call that 55 percent of wet AMD patients are using Lucentis; retinal specialists estimate that the remainder are using Avastin. See the NYT link I gave at the end of the post for more.

Barry Wheeler · 1 year ago

It is very interesting now to see that GenenTech's sales of Lucentis, the FDA approved drug as a treatment for macular degeneration has declined by 6% and the sale of avastin has gone up by 13%. Having their cake and eat it too, while trying to limit avastin as a drug that can be used to treat wet macular degeneration. Corporate greed or sound business practice?