Biogen’s Tecfidera Resilience Reflects ‘Inefficiencies In US System’

Payment Quirk Also Means Doctors Currently ‘May Prefer Vumerity’

Analysts in Q3 pounced on a quirk in the complex US healthcare system that has provided small relief to Biogen’s much-depleted Tecfidera franchise in the US in the face of many generic rivals.

climbing mountain
Tecfidera sales showed resilience in Q3 • Source: Alamy

The “success” of Biogen’s Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate) in the US in the third quarter of 2021, in the face of a plethora of generic versions of the former blockbuster treatment for multiple sclerosis, reflects a “broader problem,” and represents a “combination of several inefficiencies in the US system,” according to a leading US brokerage.

After a West Virginia district court in June last year invalidated Biogen’s US patent 8,399,514, which was due to protect...

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