Majority of US surveyed MCOs will consider reimbursing novel OPAT agents; report

According to surveyed physicians in the USA, the use of out-patient parenteral antibiotic therapy (OPAT) will largely remain stable over the next 12 months, but Cubist’s Cubicin (daptomycin for injection), Theravance/Astellas's Vibativ (telavancin) and Merck & Co's Invanz (ertapenem sodium), will benefit from physicians’ plans to increase usage.

The study, by advisory firm Decision Resources, found that nearly two-thirds of hospital-based physicians and almost half of office-based physicians expect to increase their use of Cubicin as OPAT while Vibativ and Invanz will also see increased OPAT usage, particularly by hospital-based physicians, albeit to a lesser degree than Cubicin.

The new US Physician & Payer Forum report, titled Antibiotic Market Opportunities Beyond the Hospital: Market Trends, Medical Practice and Reimbursement of Outpatient Parenteral Antibiotic Therapy, finds that, regarding the prescribing of antibiotics, office-based physicians will maintain the status quo to a larger degree than will their hospital-based peers. For every OPAT antibiotic included in the survey, a larger percentage of office-based physicians anticipate stable usage while a smaller percentage plan to increase or decrease use.