Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Pharmacogenetic Indication for a Medication?

That's one way to market the newest medication to prevent stroke, heart attack or stent thrombosis.

Wha? Yes, I mean, Prasugrel otherwise known as Effient is FDA approved for use in these patients.

But one thing I was thinking is that, since the FDA put on the insert of Plavix that 2C19 testing may be useful to identify people who will not respond to Plavix (generic Clopidogrel)

Perhaps, the marketing geniuses over at Eli Lilly could use this as an FDA suggestion that these 2C19 people may be better off with Prasugrel.


Yes, it would be one of the most brilliant ways to market pharmacogenomics. I can only imagine the DTC genomics companies salivating over this "We offer the 2C19, test. Act now, save your life."
Technically, It actually could. Yes, all the stops would be pulled out and it could potentially save the DTC genomics companies.

You may be asking yourself, "The DTC companies need saving?"


Yes, they do. Face facts, Research revolution is a flop, nowhere near 1000 people per study. Funny how people don't trust google or anyone without proper research accreditation.

Navi is slashing costs and they have a CEO who is the master of running wastelands (i.e. companies where all the bad assets of a VC firm go)
DeCodeMe.....huh?
Pathway and Tru have no marketing budgets and no real scientific staff.......... Seriously here. WTF?

But, if they could get one big hit from Lilly shoving billions into this PGx marketing campaign, they could be ok. Otherwise, I am afraid, they are lost.

For Lilly it would be a huge win too. Why? Imagine being able to pull a full 1/3rd of all patients taking Plavix off and switching them to Effient/Prasugrel. They could, they really, really could.

So now that I have you attention. The big question is , when will Eli Lilly do this? My guess, in the fall.

Mark my words, they WILL DO THIS and it WILL SAVE companies like 23andSergey and Navi. If of course they offer the test. LabCorp, Genelex and Quest all offer the test now.

But here's the rub, if they offer this and say it is used to make a clinical decision, then they will be a part of the healthcare industry.........
Oops, forgot to mention that before. Survive and take regulations or Die..........

The Sherpa Says: This would be the most brilliant marketing campaign in the world, Personalized Medicine awareness would be worldwide, and Pharmacogenomics would hit the stage in a major, major way....Thanks Lilly, call me to orchestrate your campaign.....

4 comments:

trugenetics said...

we are so in sync on this one

Steve Murphy MD said...

You think Tru et.al. Need help OR that your play is IN PGx OR that you are a medical service?

Red Herring said...

But why does the test need to be DTC? Is the concept that the "right way" to get this done should be through a clinical provider completely marginalized? If so, then we are back to the emerging concept for the 21st century: physician as butler. Don't think, just do what I demand and am paying you for.

Steve Murphy MD said...

Red,
I totally agree. Silicon Valley has crowdsourced things and hacked their way around everything. Medicine is one of the last fronts. I agree that this Doctor as Propofol Pusher idea is getting more mainstream, which is why IMHO the Michael Jackson thing is one of the best arguments against the doctor as butler syndrome.

My point is, DTC has yet to produce anything worth the cost. PGx would be worth it. As Genelex has proven.