Surveyed Neurologists in Both the U.S. and Europe Would Welcome an Antiepileptic Drug That is Administered Once-Daily

UCB’s Keppra XR Will Become the Gold Standard Adjunctive Treatment for Partial-Onset Epilepsy by 2012, According to a New Report from Decision Resources

WALTHAM, Mass., Jan. 7 /PRNewswire/ — Decision Resources, one of the world’s leading research and advisory firms focusing on pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that surveyed neurologists would welcome an adjunctive antiepileptic drug (AED) that is administered once-daily. According to U.S. neurologists, a drug of this type would earn a 25 percent patient share in epilepsy and according to European neurologists, such an agent would earn 35 percent patient share. According to the new report entitled Epilepsy: Opportunity Exists for Improved AEDs Despite Numerous Market Pressures, these robust patient shares highlight surveyed neurologists’ keen interest in AEDs with less-frequent dosing. Nevertheless, these patient shares are considerably higher than those typically attained by adjunctive AEDs, given neurologists’ generally conservative adoption of new epilepsy therapies as well as adjunctive AEDs’ use primarily in refractory patients. Consequently, it is not expected that emerging adjunctive AEDs will capture such generous patient shares.

The report also finds that UCB’s Keppra XR will earn Decision Resources’ proprietary clinical gold standard status for the adjunctive treatment of partial-onset epilepsy by 2012 as interviewed specialists indicate that the drug has competitive advantages in safety and delivery attributes over GlaxoSmithKline’s sales-leading Lamictal. According to surveyed neurologists, Keppra XR is perceived as having a lower risk of serious side effects and offers the advantage of once-daily dosing, which is considered to be the ideal AED dosing frequency for epilepsy patients.

“With its high cost and the high level of physician comfort in prescribing the drug as an add-on therapy, Lamictal became the epilepsy sales leader in 2007, ahead of the 2007 clinical gold standard immediate-release Keppra,” said Bethany Kiernan, Ph.D., analyst at Decision Resources. “However, Keppra XR, which has now launched in the United States, provides improved convenience over both Lamictal and immediate-release Keppra while retaining a favorable efficacy and safety and tolerability profile.”

About the Report

Epilepsy: Opportunity Exists for Improved AEDs Despite Numerous Market Pressures is a DecisionBase 2009 report. DecisionBase 2009 is a decision-support tool that provides in-depth analysis of unmet need, physician expectations of new therapies and commercial dynamics to help clients optimize their investments in drug development. Driven by quantitative and qualitative primary research, DecisionBase 2009 combines market forecasts with clinical and commercial end points to assess market share projections in 35 indications. Each report provides detailed market share, patient share and price-per-day projections for emerging drugs in development. The market share projections are based on prescriber surveys that compare physicians’ expectations of a potential target product profile with an emerging product profile of the leading drugs in development.

About Decision Resources

Decision Resources (www.decisionresources.com) is a world leader in market research publications, advisory services and consulting designed to help clients shape strategy, allocate resources, and master their chosen markets. Decision Resources is a Decision Resources, Inc. company.

About Decision Resources, Inc.

Decision Resources, Inc. is a cohesive portfolio of companies that offers best-in-class, high-value information and insights on important sectors of the healthcare industry. Clients rely on this analysis and data to make informed decisions. Please visit Decision Resources, Inc. at www.DecisionResourcesInc.com.

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    Heather Hilty                                Elizabeth Marshall
    Decision Resources                           Decision Resources, Inc.
    781-296-2536                                 781-296-2563
    hhilty@dresources.com                        emarshall@dresources.com

SOURCE Decision Resources