TORONTO/MONTREAL (Reuters) – Johnson & Johnson’s Remicade, a blockbuster drug that treats autoimmune disorders, has steadily lost market share among patients enrolled in the Canadian province of Quebec’s public drug program, even after a court ruling reinstated full coverage in January, a Reuters analysis of government data shows.
The plan’s administrator stopped covering Remicade, J&J unit Janssen’s version of the drug infliximab, for some new patients in February 2017, in favor of cheap near-copies called biosimilars, mainly Pfizer Inc’s version of infliximab, called Inflectra. In January, a Quebec court ordered it to resume coverage.
Remicade’s eroding market share underscores a gradual shift underway in Canada, where biosimilars have been slowly catching on with doctors and patients. The drug is under pressure elsewhere – in the third quarter, total global sales fell 17.6%.
Canadian governments have sought to boost the use of biosimilars as they try to bring down…
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