Boehringer eyes Ofev success in IPF and beyond
pharmafile | March 16, 2015 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Boehringer, Esbriet, Roche, ingelheim, inpulsis, ipd, ofev
Experts say the launch of Boehringer Ingelheim’s new treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) offers stiff competition to Roche’s Esbriet that serve to ultimately benefit patients.
Boehringer launches Ofev (nintedanib) in the EU this week seeing the firm go head to head with Roche’s Esbriet (pirfenidone) – the only drug approved by NICE for use as a treatment for IPF in the NHS.
Speaking at the Ofev launch event in Brussels was Dr Susanne Stowasser, who is Boehringer’s team leader for global medical affairs. She told Pharmafile that the German firm “is committed to providing access through compassionate use as payer authorities allow, to make this drug available.”
Stowasser added: “Boehringer Ingelheim has a respiratory portfolio in COPD, asthma, lung cancer, and now a much-needed treatment for people with IPF, a rare disease with mortality almost as bad as some cancers.
“I think I speak for the whole respiratory community, that had faced more than a decade of failed trials and disappointments when looking for new IPF treatments. But there’s confidence now that the game will change for IPF – in fact it has changed, when Ofev became approved in January in Europe for IPF.”
Ofev is being assessed by NICE, and the UK healthcare watchdog is due to publish its technology appraisal in January next year. Current NICE guidance for IPF recommends Roche’s Esbriet which was launched in 2011, and respiratory experts say the new offering could allow the possibility of combination treatments for people with IPF.
“Having more than one drug for IPF is good news”, says Professor Luca Richeldi, professor of respiratory medicine at Southampton university. “We know that the disease is complex and aggressive so having more than one drug is important. Combination is an attractive idea, it’s possible that we will be moving forward in that direction, but for the time being there are no studies showing that this combination is safe – it would be extremely helpful to have that data.”
Boehringer is also seeking to widen the indications for Ofev for several cancers. It has been approved under the name Vargatef for non-small cell lung cancer by the European Commission, and is currently engaged in Phase II and Phase III trials in colorectal, ovarian, kidney and liver cancer and mesothelioma.
“There are a lot of ways to go from here” Stowasser says. “Once an efficacious treatment becomes available it drives further research and future therapeutic advances.
“Ofev was originally identified as an inhibitor of angiogenesis, which is what cancer cells need to provide blood flow to a tumour. The same receptors are also involved in the process that leads to fibrotic conditions – conditions like IPF that cause tissue scarring. There are common process in cancer, so these diseases share some similarities that Ofev may be able to exploit.”
Lilian Anekwe
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