FIRST: Intas Pharma launches Romiplostim to treat chronic ITP in India

Romiplostim is one of the most efficacious agents with proven long-term benefits in chronic ITP, a release here said.

Mumbai: Pharma Major, Intas Pharmaceuticals takes a revolutionary step towards making therapy for chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) more accessible to patients by being the first to launch Romiplostim in India under the name Romy.

Romiplostim is one of the most efficacious agents with proven long-term benefits in chronic ITP, a release here said.

It represents the standard of care but has been available only internationally since 2008. It is estimated that around 42,000 patients are diagnosed with ITP in India every year. Less than 10 pc of patients which include adults as well as children, have access to the treatment which is required to maintain adequate platelet counts for a longer duration. In ITP, long term use of drugs is required to maintain adequate platelet count.

The currently available standard of care therapy for chronic ITP costs approximately Rs 60,000 per month, which can financially drain most patients. Hence, there was an unmet need for a drug like Romiplostim, which is accessible to the majority of patients and gives one of the best responses amongst the available treatment options.

With the launch of ROMY, which is priced at Rs 2,995 for a dose of 250 mcg, the monthly cost of treatment for most patients will be less than Rs.12000, a huge relief to the chronic ITP patients across the country.

Dr Mammen Chandy, Director of Tata Medical Center, Kolkata and Padma Shri award winner shared his views on this landmark launch, saying that "Romiplostim's introduction in India will help clinicians immensely as it will add to their therapeutic armamentarium in managing thrombocytopenia due to Chronic ITP and Bone Marrow failure. Even in patients developing hepatotoxicity due to Eltrombopag, Romiplostim will be considered as a choice of treatment."

Dr MB Agarwal, one of the leading haematologists in the country, said that "Romiplostim is an injection given below the skin (like insulin) once a week which was available in US, Europe and Australia for almost a decade but was never marketed in India. Patients were using an oral pill - Eltrombopag on a daily basis at the cost of almost 2750 per day.

With Intas, Romiplostim's cost for treating chronic ITP will come down by almost six times. Approved for ITP, this drug may be used by clinicians as per their discretion for managing low platelet counts due to other reasons as well."

Read Also: Over Rs 74 crore fine on Himalaya, Intas Pharma, 2 Chemist Associations for anti-competitive trade practices