Beerse, Belgium-based Janssen Pharmaceuticals' Stelara, an alternative mechanism biologic, was the most exciting advancement to happen to inflammatory bowel disease in 2016, according to a Cambridge, Mass.-based Spherix Global Insights report.
Here's what you should know.
1. United States-based Gastroenterologists identified the drug as the "most exciting thing to happen in IBD" last year.
2. Two TNF-inhibitors, Lake Bluff, Ill.-based AbbVie and Janssen's Remicade dominate the market. Stelara faces competition from Tokyo, Japan-based Takeda's Entyvio, also an alternative-mechanism agent.
Gastroenterologists are unsure if Stelara can surpass Entyvio in its market dominance. When surveyed about which TNF-inhibitor and which alternative mechanism biologic they would us, physicians rarely picked the combination of Sterella and Remancide.
3. Seventy-five percent of gastroenterologists believe managed care will force biosimilar use. One in 10 physicians are strongly against biosimilars.
4. Concerning the IBD pipeline, oral agents appeal to 33 percent of gastroenterologists surveyed. Those physicians would accept a lower efficacy drug if it was in pill form.
5. Summit, N.J.-based Celgene's mongersen was in highest demand among respondents.