Regarding Novartis' Q4 2009 results, PharmaTimes reports, "Turnover of the acromegaly therapy Sandostatin (ocreotide) rose 17% to $316 million." In a separate article, PharmaTimes notes that "Ipsen’s Somatuline (lanreotide) range of drugs for acromegaly and neuroendocrine tumours was up 18.8% to 36.5 million euros."
What is causing the increase in both Sandostatin and Somatuline demand? I could understand if one went up and the other went down, but both are up! Either people are increasing their dose, or more and more people are getting prescribed these drugs. What other explanations could there be?
Is this further evidence to suggest that acromegaly and pituitary tumors are on the rise, as Ms Moge suggests?
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3 comments:
Interesting..
Sandostatin is commonly used for treating Prostate cancer. So its likely not indicative.
I hadn't heard of Sandostatin being used for prostate cancer (after looking it up I saw there were some clinical trials), but now that I think of it their website does say that it is also used for treating Carcinoid Syndrome, so you make a good point.
I think drug companies commonly look for new uses of their existing drugs rather than research and develop completely new drugs. I wonder what existing drugs for other diseases could possibly help with Acromegaly?
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