Novartis’s brand-name drugs have had little application in treating the new coronavirus, while its older malaria drug hydroxychloroquine has flopped in some scientific trials against the disease. Roche in July said Ocrevus’s first-half sales were impacted by reduced out-patient visits during the COVID-19 pandemic.Kesimpta’s wholesale acquisition cost (WAC) is $83,000.
ZURICH (Reuters) - Novartis on Thursday won U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to repurpose an 11-year-old blood cancer drug against multiple sclerosis as the Swiss drugmaker takes on rival Roche’s big-selling Ocrevus for the autoimmune disorder.The FDA approved Kesimpta, known generically as ofatumumab or by its brand name Arzerra, for use against chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), to treat patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis. “We are not targeting classical commercial distribution channels, but very direct channels.”Novartis’s brand-name drugs have had little application in treating the new coronavirus, while its older malaria drug hydroxychloroquine has flopped in some scientific trials against the disease.But Sandoz generics are among medicines commonly used to treat symptoms of those hospitalised.The 15 drugs include several antibiotics, the steroid dexamethasone that has seen some success in treating severe COVID-19 cases, heart failure drug dobutamine, antifungal fluconazole and lung drug salbutamol, among others.Hegemann did not give the “no profit” cost of the drugs, compared with commercial prices.The medicines have been around for decades and are comparatively cheap to make.“Novartis should publish the actual ‘at cost prices’ for these medicines, as well as any costs of R&D and costs of production for all of their medicines,” a Doctors Without Borders spokesperson said. Zurich: Novartis drug candidate asciminib notched a trial win against Pfizer's Bosulif, the Swiss drugmaker said on Wednesday, as it pushes to expand medicines for chronic myeloid leukaemia in patients for whom other treatments stopped working. Basel: Novartis has recently announced that high-dose, once-daily Enerzair Breezhaler (indacaterol acetate, glycopyrronium bromide and mometasone furoate [IND/GLY/MF]) significantly reduces both moderate-or-severe and severe asthma exacerbation rates in patients whose asthma is uncontrolled on medium- or high-dose long-acting beta2-agonist (LABA)/inhaled corticosteroids (ICS), …
Asciminib produced a … Novartis’s pledge to provide the antibiotics, steroids and diarrhea pills to 79 countries on the World Bank’s list of low- and lower-middle income nations prompted the Doctors Without Borders non-governmental organisation (NGO) to call for more transparency on drug pricing and for the industry to follow “no profiteering” initiatives for new COVID-19 medicines.While Novartis has not seen supply chain disruptions for these medicines, Novartis Global Health Chief Operating Officer Lutz Hegemann told Reuters the programme aimed to help vulnerable healthcare systems in Africa, Asia, South America and Eastern Europe from becoming overloaded.“We shouldn’t underestimate the stress that COVID puts particularly on fragile health systems,” Hegemann said, adding Novartis hoped to work with health authorities, faith-based organisations and NGOs to eliminate big mark-ups. Brands of the World is the world\'s largest library of brand logos in vector format available to download for free.
As a branded generic, Novartis believes that Hecoria offers an option for healthcare providers who seek to have their patients receive the same brand of tacrolimus at every prescription refill, but at the affordable price of a generic drug.
• Conducted various awareness programs for general public on Age related Macular Degeneration. Ocrevus is $65,000, though Novartis contends infused MS therapies may have “real-world” costs beyond the WAC price, making its drug competitive.Ocrevus, which like Kesimpta works by depleting immune system B cells that attack MS patients’ nervous systems, has been touted by Roche as its best drug launch ever and is on pace to top $4 billion in sales in 2020. “Additionally, we hope that corporations like Novartis will follow similar ‘no profiteering’ initiatives for any new COVID-19 products.”Reporting by John Miller in Zurich and Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv; Editing by Jane Merriman and Mark Potter will not profit from 15 generic drugs it is making available to developing countries to treat symptoms of COVID-19 for the pandemic's duration, the Swiss drugmaker said on Thursday.