On Average, Surveyed Oncologists are Significantly More Willing to Prescribe Xtandi Compared with Surveyed Urologists; Nevertheless, the Majority of Both Specialist Types Report High Willingness to Prescribe Xtandi

November 29, 2012 - Exton, Penn. – BioTrends Research Group, one of the world’s leading research and advisory firms for specialized biopharmaceutical issues, finds that at one month following launch, less than 10 percent of surveyed urologists, but more than a third of oncologists say they have used Astellas Pharma/Medivation’s Xtandi (enzalutamide) in clinical practice for the treatment of prostate cancer. According to the data published in the first wave of the LaunchTrends® Xtandi report series, the lack of familiarity with Xtandi is the greatest factor currently holding urologists back from prescribing Xtandi. Of current non-prescribers, the majority of oncologists say that they will prescribe Xtandi within the next three months or sooner; although urologists say that they will take longer before they prescribe Xtandi, the majority say they will prescribe it in the next six months or sooner.

“The launch of Xtandi is a major threat to Zytiga’s continued growth in post-docetaxel metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (MCRPC),” said Oncology Therapeutic Class Director, Andrew Merron, Ph.D. “Urologists and oncologists frequently cite Zytiga and Sanofi’s Jevtana as being the currently available therapies which Xtandi is most likely to displace. Approximately one half of surveyed physicians have a more favorable opinion of Xtandi versus Zytiga, compared to less than 15 percent who have a more favorable opinion of Zytiga versus Xtandi. Nevertheless, a large proportion of respondents consider these agents equivalent.”

With respect to safety, a greater proportion of surveyed physicians believe that Xtandi has a better toxicity profile than Zytiga versus those who think Xtandi has a poorer toxicity profile than Zytiga (although generally physicians think that Xtandi and Zytiga have comparable overall toxicities). Seizure is the safety issue which is most commonly perceived to be a greater concern with Xtandi compared with other agents used to treat docetaxel-pretreated MCRPC.

Both Zytiga and Xtandi have potential to penetrate earlier disease settings; should both products gain approval in asymptomatic/minimally symptomatic MCRPC, most respondents say that they will prescribe Xtandi in place of Zytiga.

LaunchTrends® Xtandi is a series of three post-launch syndicated reports designed to track physician perception, uptake and the competitive environment of Xtandi in MCRPC. For this first wave of research, which measures Xtandi’s market impact at one month following launch, BioTrends surveyed oncologists (n=49) and urologists (n=49) in the United States and conducted qualitative interviews with 15 physicians in October 2012. BioTrends evaluates the threat of current and emerging therapies on Xtandi. BioTrends will continue to track Xtandi in subsequent waves of research.