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

Payment Quirk Also Means Doctors Currently ‘May Prefer Vumerity’

 
• By Dean Rudge

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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UK Decision Opens Up Competition On Forxiga

 
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Generic dapagliflozin rivals to AstraZeneca’s Forxiga are now free to hit the UK market after the country’s Supreme Court lifted the final barrier preventing launch, allowing off-patent firms access to a market worth hundreds of millions of pounds annually.

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Sandoz Rushes To Fill Gap After German Court Revokes Xarelto Patent

 
• By Dean Rudge

Germany’s Federal Patent Court has invalidated Bayer’s key patent covering once-daily use of Xarelto (rivaroxaban), paving the way for Sandoz to launch a generic version. Bayer is considering an appeal.