Excellence in Managing Established Products

Summary of work

• Octasa is an oral medicine for ulcerative colitis (UC), a chronic relapsing and remitting inflammatory bowel disease
• Mesalazine is the standard treatment for UC, there are six different brands available in this small specialist market
• There was strong resistance to medication change in the mesalazine market with an unfounded belief that changing brand of mesalazine could cause a patient’s disease to flare
• The 2013 Cochrane Reviews of mesalazine challenged the opinion that mesalazine brands were not interchangeable
• Tillotts campaign is based on the Cochrane reviews, offering substantial savings to the NHS if Octasa is adopted, displacing the established market leader
• Treatment of patients with UC is led by HCPs in secondary care, winning the hearts and minds of these HCPs is essential before initiating brand changing in primary care
• The cost of maintenance treatment is borne by primary care, so the stakeholder with most to gain by a change in brand of mesalazine is the CCG or Healthboard
• Against this background of resistance to change, diverse interests and engrained prescribing habits, Tillotts Octasa, a new entry to the market in 2012, has taken market leadership displacing the incumbent and provided more than £30 million in savings to the NHS.

Judges' comments

Tillotts Pharma UK’s entry stood out in terms of savings and market share and had a good, thorough patient focus. It showed indirect health outcomes and was very strong in terms of the NHS focus. It was made for online, but could also be facilitated off-line and offered a clear view of the costs and on how decisions were made.