Release issued 9th September 2008

Dominance of low-molecular-weight heparins and vitamin k antagonists
will be curtailed by novel drugs, according to a new report from Decision Resources

September 8, 2008-Waltham, Mass. – Decision Resources, one of the world’s leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that robust annual growth in the combined market for venous thromboembolism primary prophylaxis and treatment/secondary prophylaxis will largely be driven by the introduction of novel oral anticoagulants that offer a greater margin of safety and improved convenience over current therapies.

The new Pharmacor report entitled Venous Thromboembolism finds that Bayer/Ortho-McNeil’s Xarelto, a novel oral direct factor Xa inhibitor, will be the most successful new therapy for treating the disease in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom and Japan. Following the withdrawal of AstraZeneca’s Exanta in 2004, Boehringer Ingelheim’s Pradaxa/Rendix was the first oral direct thrombin inhibitor to reach the market, but a delayed launch in the United States (expected in 2011) will constrain overall sales of Pradaxa/Rendix.

The report finds that the combined market for drugs for venous thromboembolism primary prophylaxis and treatment/secondary prophylaxis will experience annual growth of 7.6 percent from 2007 through 2012 and, thereafter, will grow 9.4 percent from 2012 to 2017. In 2007, the low-molecular-weight heparins and vitamin K antagonists were the two drug classes that claimed the majority of prescriptions in both the treatment/secondary prophylaxis and primary prophylaxis markets. However, by 2017, the dominance of these classes will be significantly curtailed by the shift toward novel anticoagulants.

“An increase in the rate of primary prophylaxis is driving the expansion of the venous thromboembolism primary prophylaxis market," said Christine Helliwell, Ph.D., analyst at Decision Resources. "Improved provision of prophylaxis, led by increased physician awareness of the importance of preventative measures, as well as the introduction of quality assurance schemes in hospitals in the United States and the United Kingdom that require minimum levels of prophylaxis will also drive sales."

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