Launch Excellence in the Diabetes Market: Lessons from - IMS Health
Launch Excellence in the Diabetes Market: Lessons from - IMS Health
Launch Excellence in the Diabetes Market: Lessons from - IMS Health
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WHITE PAPER | DIABETES LAUNCH EXCELLENCE<br />
FIXED-DOSE COMBINATIONS: A SECOND CHANCE TO BE FIRST<br />
Whilst it has been standard for pla<strong>in</strong> oral agents to be followed by <strong>the</strong>ir comb<strong>in</strong>ation<br />
with metform<strong>in</strong>, for TZDs <strong>the</strong>se products were very much second brands. With <strong>the</strong><br />
glipt<strong>in</strong>s, <strong>the</strong> launch of <strong>the</strong> comb<strong>in</strong>ation has been an opportunity to ga<strong>in</strong> competitive<br />
advantage.<br />
In <strong>the</strong> major European markets, Novartis launched its comb<strong>in</strong>ation product, Eucreas ®<br />
(vildaglipt<strong>in</strong>/metform<strong>in</strong>), concurrently with its pla<strong>in</strong> product, Galvus. So, while<br />
Galvus was <strong>the</strong> second-to-market pla<strong>in</strong> product, Eucreas was <strong>the</strong> first launched<br />
comb<strong>in</strong>ation DPP-IV product. (See Fig. 1).<br />
FIGURE 1: LAUNCH OF FIRST COMBINATION DPP-IVs IN THE EU<br />
2008 2009 2010<br />
Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar<br />
Eucreas launched 2 yrs ahead of Janumet <strong>in</strong> UK<br />
In contrast, Merck delayed launch<strong>in</strong>g its fixed-dose comb<strong>in</strong>ation product, Janumet®<br />
(sitaglipt<strong>in</strong>/metform<strong>in</strong>) until a year after Januvia, its s<strong>in</strong>gle-compound product, was<br />
on <strong>the</strong> market. This meant that Janumet was <strong>the</strong> second-to-market comb<strong>in</strong>ation<br />
product. In fact, it lagged beh<strong>in</strong>d Eucreas by a full two years <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> U.K.<br />
Uptake of Eucreas did not match that of Janumet across <strong>the</strong> top five European<br />
countries—likely because Janumet benefited <strong>from</strong> Januvia’s established patient base.<br />
(See Fig. 2.) However, with<strong>in</strong> Novartis’s product family, Eucreas performed<br />
significantly better than Galvus <strong>in</strong> most European markets. This is most apparent <strong>in</strong><br />
Spa<strong>in</strong> where <strong>in</strong> 2011, Eucreas and Galvus accounted for 34 percent and 3 percent of<br />
<strong>the</strong> DPP-IV <strong>in</strong>hibitor market, respectively. Sales for Eucreas amounted to 83% of<br />
Janumet sales, far exceed<strong>in</strong>g Galvus’ performance. The lesson here is that it might<br />
well be worthwhile to give as much—if not greater—focus to <strong>the</strong> launch of <strong>the</strong><br />
comb<strong>in</strong>ation product as to <strong>the</strong> launch of <strong>the</strong> pla<strong>in</strong> product.<br />
<strong>IMS</strong> HEALTH | LAUNCH EXCELLENCE IN THE DIABETES MARKET 4