Poor Prospects For Zofran In Face Of Cost Constraints

Because of its perceived high cost, which in the USA is $143 for a standard 32-milligram dose, the antiemetic Zofran (ondansetron) from Glaxo may not be as widely used as had been expected. This is a view expressed in the Wall Street Journal, which reports that hospitals in both the USA and Europe are trying to limit usage of the drug in cancer chemotherapy patients, in some cases by reducing the dose to save costs.

The journal quotes University of Texas M D Anderson's oncologist Robert Benjamin as saying that he and other physicians believe that Glaxo's official package insert, approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, overstates the Zofran dose that many patients need.

Zofran sales rose to an annual level of around $400 million in 1992 after the product's launch in 1990, and 1993 sales increased a further 38%, the WSJ notes. However, recently there has been a downward trend. The journal adds that drug analysts have also revised their forecasts for Zofran sales for the year ended June 30 down to around $630 million. And Paul Krikler of Goldman Sachs in London has said that "the market seems to have got saturated faster than we expected."