Four months after its drug nusinersen (Spinraza) became the first ever approved to treat the rare genetic disease spinal muscular atrophy, Biogen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]) released study results Tuesday that could help more patients gain access to the expensive drug.
The data, from a 126-patient study called CHERISH, provide the most detailed evidence to date that nusinersen can benefit patients with multiple forms of SMA, a degenerative muscle disease that can rob people of their ability to walk and function independently. Neurologists who treat SMA patients were positive about the data, but believe more lengthy testing is needed to see the drug’s true long-term benefit on patients with milder forms of the disease.
Xconomy last week detailed the stories of SMA patients whose families have battled insurance companies and medical centers, despite the FDA’s December approval of nusinersen for a broad population.
On an earnings call early Tuesday, Biogen reported nusinersen sales for the first time. They were higher than analysts expected. CEO Michel Vounatsos acknowledged, however, that “bottlenecks remain.”
Much of the difficulty patients—mainly children and young adults—are experiencing with access to nusinersen stems from the high list price: $750,000 for the first year, and $375,000 each year thereafter. (The drug must be taken chronically.)
The FDA approved nusinersen for children and adults with all forms of the disease, but several insurers have said they first want to see published data in patients with certain types of SMA before approving coverage.
Treatment centers have also faced logistical struggles stocking the drug and preparing for the complicated procedures required to administer it.
Biogen reported $47 million in first-quarter revenue, well beyond analysts’ $15 million consensus estimates. Biogen could soon roll out the drug in other countries. Nusinersen could be approved in Europe, Japan, and Canada this year, and the company is filing for approval in 10 more countries.
On the call, several Biogen executives said data presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting on Tuesday could help convince payers to loosen their coverage restrictions.
Until Tuesday, the most significant published data covered Type 1 patients, who are diagnosed in infancy and often die at an early age. The CHERISH study enrolled patients diagnosed between the ages of 2 and 12, whom Biogen describes as “likely to develop” Type 2 and Type 3 SMA. (There are five types in all, 0 to 4.) Type 2 progresses more slowly, though patients might never be able to walk. Type 3 patients can walk initially before losing strength later in life.
Vounatsos said Tuesday that a majority of patients treated so far have Type 1. CHERISH might help change that. “It is our hope this new data will convince the payers who have developed narrow medical policies to offer broader access to patients,” Vounatsos said.
Biogen CFO Paul Clancy estimated that 75 percent of U.S. insurance plans have approved nusinersen for at least some people with SMA. About half of those insurers have a “narrow” policy that could be impacted by new data, Clancy said.
Biogen enrolled 126 patients in the study; 84 received nusinersen while 42 received a placebo. When nusinersen was approved in December, Biogen had only interim results. They showed a clinically meaningful difference in motor function after 15 months between the drug and placebo groups (an average of 5.9 points on the Hammersmith Functional Motor Scale).
With CHERISH completed, Biogen has updated that figure. The average difference between the two groups is now 4.9 points, largely due a change in the placebo group’s average decline. Slides from the presentation at AAN show that more than half the patients on nusinersen (56.8 percent) were deemed “responders,” meaning at least a 3-point improvement on the Hammersmith scale; 26.3 percent of placebo patients showed that level of improvement.
“This has incredible significance for these patients,” says Timothy Lotze, a pediatric neurologist at Texas Children’s Hospital who wasn’t associated with the CHERISH study. “These kids not only met an outcome of statistical significance but also of functional significance, which probably translates even more to real world outcomes.”
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