Novartis offers payment plan for high-cost heart medicine
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Mumbai: In a first-of-its-kind pricing strategy in the pharmaceutical industry, Swiss drug major Novartis has introduced a financing scheme for its cholesterol lowering drug brand Sybrava (inclisiran) in India, as the company looks to expand the adoption of the new generation heart drug that has so far been restricted due to its high pricing.Novartis has tied up with Indian payment technology company Pine Labs to offer a monthly instalment scheme for the twice-a-year treatment of the injectable drug used to reduce levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), commonly called bad cholesterol."We have recently launched a zero-interest EMI scheme with Pine Labs so that this treatment can be accessible to more patients," Amitabh Dube, country president & MD, Novartis India, said in an exclusive interview with ET.Each instalment is priced at Rs 15,000-16,000. "The first is a loading dose and the second dose is after 90 days, and then after 180 days. It will be a rolling cycle," said Dube.As per cardiologists, Novartis has come up with a one-on-one scheme where the second injection will be free on purchase of the first dose.However, a patient has to pay full value of the first dosage through equated monthly instalment.The drug was priced at Rs 1.2 lakh per injection when it was launched in January 2024. In the US, sold under brand Leqvio, it is priced at $3,373.4 per dose (about Rs 2.9 lakh).More than 3,000 patients have currently been put on the drug in India.To expand the reach for inclisiran, Novartis has also entered into marketing tie-ups with Mankind Pharma , JB Pharma and Lupin Mankind, which sells inclisiran under brand Crenzlo, is also evaluating possibilities in terms of patient assistance programmes that can make the drug more affordable to the eligible patients in India, said Atish Majumdar, senior president-sales and marketing. Lupin has launched the drug under Tilpazan, while JB Pharma's brand is Izirize.Lupin and JB Pharma did not respond to ET's query until press time on Monday.In the one year since April 2024, inclisiran recorded sales of Rs 7.7 crore among all three partners, according to data from PharmaTrac.Inclisiran is not a replacement for statins, the most commonly used class of medications to lower cholesterol, but can be recommended as a line of treatment when statins do not work or if a person is statin intolerant. However, top cardiologists are divided over the widespread prescribing of the drug.Some opine it is another addition to their armament of treatment. "It is a very important drug that has come into the market. It has the potential to be a very big game changer for blockages," said Dr Nihar Mehta, associate director, Department of Structural Heart Diseases, Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre.However, others said its usage will be for a limited number of patients. Dr Ganesh Kumar AV, director of cardiology at LH Hiranandani Hospital Powai in Mumbai, said: "The medicine is good but it is being overused. With the right usage there are not many patients who need it. My usage of inclisiran has not been much over the last one year; maybe less than 10 out of the about 2,000 patients with coronary artery diseases I treated".
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