The Xarelto partnership is seeking additional approved uses, with trials underway in patients with acute coronary syndrome, and for reduction of major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with heart failure or peripheral artery disease.īristol and Pfizer have a direct-to-consumer television ad campaign to increase Eliquis awareness. Paul Burton, vice president of medical affairs for Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit, stressed Xarelto’s safety but said availability of Portola’s drug would enhance doctor comfort levels. Xarelto and Eliquis are approved to treat patients with a type of irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation that significantly increases stroke risk, as well as to prevent blood clots following hip or knee replacement, and to treat deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Health insurer Aetna Inc expects approval of the Portola drug to gradually increase use of Xarelto and Eliquis, said Edmund Pezalla, Aetna’s national medical director for pharmaceutical policy and strategy. But given the superior safety and convenience, Express Scripts said in a statement that “the overall value is likely justified.” The treatments are about 70 times more expensive than pennies-a-day warfarin, according to Express Scripts Holding Co, the largest U.S. Morningstar expects annual sales for Xarelto and Eliquis could reach $8 billion for each. There is still a lot of room to grow as warfarin, also prescribed under the brand name Coumadin, commands some 60 percent of the blood thinner market. Xarelto sales of $461 million in the quarter, while Bayer reported about $509 million in international sales. approval at the end of 2012, about 18 months after Xarelto. But major bleeding remains the most worrisome risk of all anti-coagulant therapy as it can be fatal or cause debilitating, long-term problems.īristol-Myers reported $466 million in global third-quarter sales of Eliquis, which won U.S. The new drugs cause fewer major bleeding episodes than warfarin and do not require dietary restrictions or constant monitoring as with the decades-old medicine. They’re frightened of them because they’ve had to deal with the consequences of somebody coming in with trauma,” while using the new blood thinners. “I have many physicians, particularly surgeons, who hate these drugs. Mariell Jessup, a cardiologist at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. “It will make a big difference,” said Dr. It is expected to enter the market in 2016. approval of a drug called andexanet alfa that rapidly reverses the effect of Xarelto and Eliquis. Small drugmaker Portola Pharmaceuticals this month applied for U.S.
“We didn’t have a specific reversal strategy for these drugs, and I think that left people feeling a bit insecure,” added Pollack, who has done clinical work on a recently approved antidote to Boehringer Ingelheim’s rival blood clot preventer Pradaxa. Charles Pollack, an emergency physician at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, said of major bleeding events. “It may be uncommon, but they’re memorable when they happen,” Dr. Xarelto, from Bayer AG and Johnson & Johnson, and Eliquis, sold by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer, were approved as safer and more convenient alternatives for preventing blood clots and strokes than warfarin.īut there was one hitch: there was no way to quickly restore normal clotting for patients in need of emergency surgery or to stop a major bleeding episode, leading many doctors to hold off on prescribing the drugs. Patient Eilleen Corrigin has blood drawn at an anti-coagulation clinic at the Staten Island University Hospital in Staten Island, New York in this May 7, 2012, file photo.
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