Surveyed Endocrinologists and Rheumatologists Project Robust Uptake of Amgen/GlaxoSmithKline's Prolia for the Treatment of Osteo

However, Less Than A Quarter of Primary Care Physicians Are Familiar With Prolia, According to a New Report from Decision Resources

BURLINGTON, Mass., Sept. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that three quarters of surveyed endocrinologists and rheumatologists who are aware of Amgen/GlaxoSmithKline's Prolia anticipate prescribing the drug. However, according to Treatment Algorithms in Osteoporosis, while awareness of Prolia is good among specialists (94 percent of surveyed endocrinologists and 85 percent of surveyed rheumatologists are familiar with Prolia), primary care physicians (PCPs) report low awareness, with only 22 percent of surveyed PCPs saying they have heard of or are familiar with Prolia.

Prolia was approved for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women at increased risk of fractures or patients who have failed or are intolerant to other osteoporosis treatment. As a result, specialists largely anticipate prescribing it as a second- or third-line treatment for osteoporosis. Surveyed endocrinologists anticipate just 17 percent of their prescriptions for Prolia will be for first-line therapy by 2012. Meanwhile, rheumatologists anticipate an even smaller percentage of Prolia prescriptions will be used in the first line -- they anticipate only 6 percent of their Prolia prescriptions will be first-line use by 2012.

"Both surveyed endocrinologists and rheumatologists view Prolia as most likely to replace both oral and intravenously delivered bisphosphonates, such as Novartis's Reclast, in their treatment of osteoporosis," said Decision Resources Analyst Matthew Scutcher, Ph.D. "Surveyed endocrinologists also believe Prolia will replace other osteoporosis drugs such as Eli Lilly's selective estrogen receptor modulator Evista."

About Treatment Algorithm Insight Series

Decision Resources combines in-depth primary research with the most extensive claims-based longitudinal patient-level data from IMS LifeLink's Health Plans Claims database to provide exceptional insight into physicians' prescribing trends and the factors that drive therapy product choice, from diagnosis through multiple courses of treatment, for a specific disease.

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SOURCE Decision Resources