Acacia Pharma Group plc

07/01/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/30/2021 23:05

Acacia Pharma Announces Significant Continued Progress with Formulary Uptake of BARHEMSYS® and BYFAVO™ in the US

01 July 2021

Acacia Pharma Announces Significant Continued Progress with Formulary Uptake of BARHEMSYS® and BYFAVO™ in the US

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No 596/2014.

Cambridge, UK and Indianapolis, US - 1 July 2021: Acacia Pharma Group plc ('Acacia Pharma', the 'Group' or the 'Company') (EURONEXT: ACPH), a hospital pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of new products aimed at improving the care of patients undergoing significant treatments such as surgery, other invasive procedures or cancer chemotherapy, announces that its FDA-approved products BARHEMSYS® and BYFAVO™ are on track to meet its full year 2021 formulary acceptance goals.

As of 30 June 2021:
  • BARHEMSYS is now on formulary at 201 institutions, against an FY2021 expectation of 300; this represents an increase of more than 80 accounts since March 2021. To date, the formulary success rate for BARHEMSYS continues to track in the mid-80% range, exceeding original expectations.
  • BYFAVO is now on formulary in 47 accounts, against an FY2021 expectation of 150; this represents an increase of 40 accounts since March 2021. To date, the formulary success rate for BYFAVO continues to track at or above that for BARHEMSYS, also exceeding original expectations
Newly appointed Chief Commercial Officer Deb Hussain commented: 'My excitement in joining Acacia Pharma was based on our ability to improve the lives of patients through the successful commercialization of BARHEMSYS and BYFAVO, and our early US launch efforts are delivering positive results. The rate of formulary adoption we are achieving against the backdrop of restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic is quite impressive, suggesting the significant unmet needs patients and hospitals have in this space. We will continue our commercial efforts in additional targeted accounts and are very confident of further formulary wins across the balance of the year.'
Commenting on progress, Mike Bolinder, Chief Executive Officer, added: 'We are extremely encouraged with the acceptance of our products, including at some of the largest institutions and networks in the country. This is particularly noteworthy given the current hospital environment that has yet to normalize from the pandemic, resulting in significantly reduced physical access to accounts and continued delays in formulary committee reviews. We know that formulary adoption is the key first step in achieving consistent and growing sales pull through starting in 2022, which will allow us to build a long term, sustainable hospital products franchise, thereby creating significant value for our shareholders.'
Regarding the unmet need that BARHEMSYS addresses in PONV, Dr Richard Dutton, Chief Quality Officer of US Anesthesia Partners and anesthesiologist at Baylor Scott & White Health, the largest not-for-profit healthcare system in Texas and one of the largest in the United States, noted: 'BARHEMSYS provides an important option for treating PONV in our patients who have failed our usual prophylactic antiemetics - a major unmet need - and we are very pleased to have it available on formulary across our network of hospitals.'
Regarding the utility of BYFAVO in practice, Dr Talmage Egan, Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Utah, commented: 'We are pleased to have added remimazolam to our formulary and we are excited to explore how it may positively impact our sedation practice. As a 'soft' benzodiazepine, intentionally designed for more rapid metabolism and shorter duration of effect, it may help us improve efficiencies in our procedural suites such as gastrointestinal endoscopy treatment rooms.'