Following the recent news that NICE has recommended Merck’s Prevymis for preventing cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation in recipients of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), Paul Jeng, Senior Pharma Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his perspective:

“NICE’s revised recommendation is a major commercial win for Merck that will allow Prevymis to be funded by the NHS for seropositive adult recipients of allogeneic HSCT in the UK, which currently accounts for nearly 5% of the global CMV market.

“According to GlobalData analysis, Prevymis sales are expected to comprise nearly 15% of the entire global CMV market by 2027. A key factor in the drug’s expected growth is its safety advantages over older products for prevention of CMV reactivation, such as ganciclovir and valganciclovir which are associated with potential hematopoietic and renal toxicities when used over extended periods.

“The 2017 approval of Prevymis was the first major breakthrough to occur in the CMV therapeutics and prophylaxis landscape in nearly two decades, but concerns about the drug’s cost-effectiveness compared to cheaper antivirals such as generic valganciclovir hampered its rollout in the UK until now.

“There are around 1,800 recipients of allogeneic HSCT in the UK per year, of which over 60% are eligible to receive Prevymis prophylaxis under current guidelines. GlobalData projects that peak year sales for Prevymis in the UK are expected to exceed $5.6m.”