September 19, 2014
By Krystle Vermes, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Drug behemoth GlaxoSmithKline said this week that it will be halting payments to doctors for giving promotional talks about its products, as it moves toward becoming a more “open” organization.
The move to cease payments for promotion will not go into effect until 2016. The company said it will instead begin promoting its drugs online on its website and through its scientists, rather than doctors.
The news came after Patrick Vallance, president of pharmaceutical research and development, visited Boston to formally open the Kendall Square office for GlaxoSmithKline, and told the Boston Globe that he does not think GlaxoSmithKline will be alone in its decision. He said society will be demanding more transparency from biopharmaceutical companies.
Meanwhile, the company’s recent success with asthma drug atmepolizumab is being scrutinized as a possible test case for GSK’s commitment to internal marketing, rather than doctor-touted advertising.
Mepolizumab, which is an IL-5 antagonist monoclonal antibody, showed that it could significantly reduce the frequency of asthma exacerbations compared to a placebo. Both studies met their primary end points. The results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the European Respiratory Society Congress. Its projected rollout in 2016 would coincide exactly with the company’s new guidelines. The company is moving toward global filings ofmepolizumab for severe eosinophilic asthma by the end of 2014.
“The relationship between over-expression of IL-5 and severe asthma has long been established, but it is only now that we have medicines that can target IL-5 as a possible way to manage eosinophilic inflammation,” said Steve Yancey, medicine development leader, mepolizumab, at GSK. “The combined results of these studies, taken with earlier results, confirm our belief that patients with severe eosinophilic asthma could benefit from mepolizumab. We are pleased to be sharing our findings with the scientific community to expand understanding of innovative approaches to treating eosinophilic asthma for the benefit of patients.”
