Patient Access to High-Cost Therapies for CML in LATAM: How Do Payers and Physicians Shape This Crowded and Changing Market? | Physician & Payer Forum | Brazil and Mexico | 2014
The treatment armamentarium for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) in Brazil and Mexico includes all three currently marketed tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs): Glivec (imatinib,Novartis) for newly diagnosed patients, and Sprycel (dasatinib, Bristol-Myers Squibb) and Tasigna (nilotinib, Novartis) for patients resistant to first-line TKI therapy. However, patient access to these agents can be challenging, especially in later lines of CML therapy where coverage of the TKIs is far from universal in both countries. Second-generation TKIs, such as Pfizer’s Bosulif (bosutinib)and Ariad Pharmaceuticals’ Iclusig (ponatinib), will soon compete in Latin America with branded and generic versions of currently available TKIs, therefore challenging payers and physicians to make tough reimbursement and prescribing decisions.
