Ibrutnib

[Robbob71]

Is there any generic equivalent for ibrutnib

[cajunjeff]

Yes its generally 20 years, but that's not measured from the date the drug hits the market, its from the development stage. The patent for ibrutinib in the US expires in 2026.

I started last year so at an average yearly cost of 148k, ibrutinib will have cost me (my insurers and medicare mostly) just north of a million bucks in 2026 when the patent expires. Whoa.

Fortunately in the US, and I assume some other countries, just about anyone who is prescribed ibrutinib can get it somehow. The folks who get hit the hardest are the ones who make too much to qualify for assistance, but not enough where the cost of the drug (or copay/deductible) is not a real hardship.

Now does that patent stop me from making a different but similar BTK inhibitor from ibrutinib like Calquence? That I dont know, I do know there are several other BTK inhibitors in the works. Hopefully that will create some competition to drive the price down.

[Hidden in reply to cajunjeff]

same rules apply for the newer drugs=from their patent dates

[cajunjeff in reply to Hidden]

The question I was raising was whether you can copycat a drug and not violate its patent by.making subtle molecular changes that make it a different drug, yet similar. Ibrutinib has cornered the btk market and has a price monoploy of sorts that could exist until it goes off patent and generic ibrutinib hits the market.

But maybe before that happens the market gets hit with a bunch of other btk inhibitors, similar to ibrutinib, but different enough to not violate ibrutinibs patent. Acalabrutinib is but one example of such a drug that if it gets approval might help drive prices down, unless the manufacturers collude as they are known to do.

[country76 in reply to cajunjeff]

2026 is not that far away in Cll years. I hope they can add another drug to the mix and cure us before then. One of these clinical trials is going to work for a cure.

[PlanetaryKim]

I sent you a private message Robbob.

[Hidden]

actually ibrutinib is the generic(chemical) name. The brand name is Imbruvica.

[Graham64]

What I would like to see is the NHS acquiring one of the big pharma companies, or setting up their own drug development arm, and providing the drugs back free to the NHS. That's got to be cheaper in the long run?

[Big_Dee in reply to Graham64]

Hello Graham64

Great idea, but doubt it would work. The USA develops more new drugs per year than the rest of the world combined. Most other countries are not willing to spend the billions of dollars required to test and evaluate the new drugs, so they negotiate greatly reduced pricing with big pharma.

[zaax]

The UK does have the Wellcome Foundation wellcome.ac.uk/

[closh]

Zanubrutinib (BGB3111) is similar, and possibly improved, version of Ibrutinib made by Beigene (Chinese pharma company). It's been in trials for a while and there's currently a phase 3 trial to compare it to Ibrutinib. It may be a cheaper alternative - who knows? It's probably also part of the reason that Abbvie have been doing combo trials including Ibrutinib so that if Zanubrutinib is approved, they'll still have to chase Abbvie with their own combo trials to get it approved for that use also.

Graham