AMAG's Feraheme use on the rise

Feb 17 2010

BioTrends Research Group, Inc. released Wave 3 of its LaunchTrends®: Feraheme report, the third in a multi-phase syndicated market research project tracking the launch of AMAG's new IV iron product, Feraheme, through the first six months of product availability.  Each wave of the report provides quantitative information from 50 unique Nephrologists and qualitative information from a subset of 15.  The reports assess trial and use of Feraheme, obstacles to use, reasons to use, typical patient types, product perceptions, promotional efforts/messages, and product satisfaction.  

At six months post launch, the use of Feraheme is on the rise with 23% of Nephrologists reporting use of the product, and for the first time in this report series, Nephrologists report use in all patient segments: hemodialysis (HD), peritoneal dialysis (PD) and chronic kidney disease – non dialysis (CKD-ND) patients.  

Overall, Feraheme users report positive experiences in terms of efficacy, safety and ease of administration / convenience.  The vast majority of users have not experienced any safety issues with the product and some Nephrologists feel Feraheme may be safer than the other available IV iron products.  Lack of availability where patients receive IV iron and uncertainty regarding cost and insurance coverage are the greatest barriers to use of Feraheme in CKD-ND patients, although the majority of Feraheme users report reimbursement is comparable or better than the competitive products.

Nephrologists project continued near-term increases in their use of the product in all patient segments.  Nephrologists expect Feraheme use in HD to most negatively impact Ferrlecit while use in PD and CKD-ND is expected to negatively impact both Venofer and Ferrlecit.  In addition to gaining share from other products, Nephrologists expect Feraheme to increase their overall use of IV iron in PD and CKD-ND patients, and have a negative impact on their use of ESAs.