Bristol-Myers Squibb's Glucophage XR extended-release metformin for type 2 diabetes is getting 35% of its new prescriptions from patients switching off the company's immediate-release Glucophage, Bristol President-Worldwide Medicines Group Richard Lane told a Jan. 24 conference call.

Once-daily Glucophage XR, launched in October, gets "about 20% of its [prescriptions] from Glucophage monotherapy, another 15% from combination patients, so about 35% of its total usages are coming from switches," Lane explained.

With the launch of Glucophage XR at a 5% discount to Glucophage in October, Bristol announced its intention to convert most Glucophage patients to its extended-release formulation or its combination metformin/glyburide product Glucovance (¹ Also see "Bristol Glucophage XR Launch Price Is 5% Discount To Metformin" - Pink Sheet, 23 October, 2000.).

The price differential between Glucophage and Glucophage XR is continuing to increase. Bristol raised the Glucophage price 8% at the start of 2001.

Bristol is working to increase switches to Glucophage XR in advance of expected generic competition to Glucophage in the second half of 2001 by encouraging Glucophage users to see their physicians.

"A considerable portion of our promotional effort for the remainder of this quarter will be heavily focused on increasing the rate at which current Glucophage users come to see their physicians," Lane said.

"We'll be working with doctors' offices themselves to reach out to patients...particularly with those doctors who are very supportive of Glucophage XR," he explained.

In addition, Bristol will conduct "a range of patient-directed initiatives...and provide incentives for them to come see their doctors to inquire about being switched to Glucophage XR."

The strong launch of Glucovance is also attributed to switches from Glucophage. Since the product entered the market in August, approximately 10% of new Glucovance scripts come from Glucophage monotherapy switches and 20% from Glucophage combination therapy switches, Lane said.

Glucophage sales in 2000 were up 32% over 1999 to $1.73 bil. Glucovance and Glucophage XR had sales of $110 mil. and $50 mil., respectively.

Worldwide BMS pharmaceutical sales totaled $14.36 bil. in 2000, an 11% increase over 1999. U.S. drug sales were $10.19 bil., up 18%. Three products topped $1.5 bil. in worldwide sales: Glucophage, Pravachol ($1.82 bil., up 7% over 1999) and Taxol ($1.59 bil., up 7%).

Plavix, which Bristol co-markets with Sanofi, is also rapidly approaching the $1 bil. sales mark; the cardiovascular product was up 65% to $903 mil.

Bristol is expecting Taxol sales to drop to $1 bil. in 2001 following the introduction of generic paclitaxel by Ivax in October (² Also see "Ivax Starts Shipping Generic Paclitaxel; Oral Formulation Paxoral In Phase II" - Pink Sheet, 30 October, 2000.).

A hearing in Bristol's appeal of the Newark, N.J. federal court decision invalidating the company's non-ovarian cancer claims for Taxol will be held in Washington, D.C. appeals court Feb. 5, Bristol said.

Another Bristol product involved in a patent dispute, the antidepressant Buspar, narrowly avoided generic competition in November with a last-minute patent covering the metabolite of the active ingredient (³ Also see "Bristol BuSpar Metabolite Patent Issued One Day Before Watson Generic" - Pink Sheet, 27 November, 2000.). The drug saw 17% sales growth in 2000, to $709 mil.

Bristol also touted the quick growth of Tequin. "In November 2000, Tequin became the first quinolone antibiotic to reach the one million new prescription mark in the United States after just 10 months on the market," Bristol's earnings report states.

Another 2000 launch, the prescription facial hair removal cream Vaniqa, has benefited from direct-to-consumer advertising.

After a slowdown in December when the product was not being advertised, a renewed ad effort resulted in "great growth in the most recent week," with 12,000 scripts dispensed, Lane said. "We're going to continue to emphasize the DTC effort for that compound."

Bristol reported that results of the first of its two Phase III trials for the stroke therapy MaxiPost showed "no statistical differences in efficacy, safety and tolerability between the active agent and placebo." The second study is expected to be completed in mid-2001.

Bristol Glucophage XR Gets 35% Of New Rxs From Metformin Switches

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