Fosamax, Actonel Prescribed As First-Line Therapy To Osteoporosis Patients

Osteoporosis Patients

Physicians primarily prescribe Merck's Fosamax and Sanofi-Aventis and Procter & Gamble's Actonel as first-line therapy; to 51.4% and 27.3% of new steoporosis patients respectively.

The main reasons surveyed physicians choose Fosamax over Actonel are familiarity (mentioned by 54% of primary care physicians and 65 percent of gynecologists) and improvements in bone mass density (cited by 51 percent of primary care physicians and 50 percent of gynecologists).

The report entitled Treatment Algorithms in Osteoporosis finds that Roche and GlaxoSmithKline's Boniva is the most commonly prescribed second-line agent, capturing 27.3 percent of second-line patients.

"Surveyed physicians say the primary reasons for prescribing oral Boniva over Fosamax are the ease of its administration (including less frequent dosing) and a lower frequency of gastrointestinal side effects, which are stated by 80 percent and 53 percent of physicians, respectively," said Jeremy Goldman, M.D., analyst at Decision Resources.

Decision Resources combines in-depth primary research with the most extensive claims-based longitudinal patient-level data from PharMetrics(R) 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.

For each disease examined, Decision Resources' Treatment Algorithms Insight Series provides:

-- Summary of U.S. medical practice based on interviews with leading experts in the field

-- Qualitative diagnosis/referral/treatment algorithm for the United States

-- Drug usage by lines of therapy (1st, 2nd, 3rd line)

-- Discussion of key freeform combinations by lines of therapy

-- Product share (class and specific compound level) within each line of therapy (1st, 2nd, 3rd line)

-- Progression of therapy from key 1st line products

-- Pathway to key therapies from previous therapies

-- Qualitative analysis of 2-year forecast incorporating upcoming launches, changes in reimbursement, etc.