Bayer Partners With Arogya Finance to Provide Eylea Easy Pay Program in India

·         Eylea, or Aflibercept solution, is indicated for the treatment of Diabetic Macular Edema (DME) and Wet AMD (Age-related Macular Degeneration), which are visual impairment conditions.

·         Presently, India has 67 million cases of diabetes. Diabetic macular edema (DME) is the leading cause of visual loss in people with diabetes mellitus affecting up to 10% of patients.^[1] The prevalence rate of AMD In India ranges from 1.2% to 4.7%^[2] and the disease mostly affects people aged 40 and above. Wet AMD accounts for roughly 10% of AMD cases, but almost 90% of AMD-related central vision loss.^[3]

Bayer today, announced its collaboration with social healthcare venture Arogya Finance to introduce the Eylea Easy Pay Program in India to provide flexible and affordable payment solutions to help patients in India access Eylea (aflibercept solution) treatment. Through this partnership, Bayer and Arogya Finance have increased the accessibility of the innovative treatment solutions, thus reducing the immediate financial burden on patients and their families. These financing solutions will be available across the country. Centers in states like Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka, Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, to name a few, will offer this program to their patients.

Today, diabetes affects close to 67 million people in India,^[4] and approximately 3-4.5 million of them develop visual impairments^[5] due to diabetic eye diseases, such as Diabetic Macular Edema (DME). Bayer’s Eylea is used for the treatment for both Wet AMD, which affects the elderly population and DME, which affects diabetics, and is administered via an injection directly into the eye. Since Eylea is an ongoing treatment for chronic eye conditions, treatment adherence is important.

Bayer launched the “Eylea 4 U” Patient Assistance Program in 2020 with the objective of improving access and adherence to the treatment by Indian patients. In continuation with this aim, Bayer and Arogya Finance have collaborated to tackle the central issue of patient adherence by reducing the upfront financial burden of treatment that usually impacts the patient and their families. The benefits of this collaboration include lower up-front payments, flexibility in payment options and easy equated monthly instalment (EMI). With treatment accessibility and patient centricity as the key focus, Eylea Easy Pay aims to help patients and caregivers focus on effective management of the condition.

“At Bayer, we have always been committed to a Patient First approach to treatment. We aim to provide effective and innovative solutions to address unmet health needs, while supporting our patients in accessing and adhering to their treatment plans. By collaborating with Arogya Finance, we extend our commitment to delivering solutions to improve and maintain vision, to support patients on their journey to better health,” said Manoj Saxena, Managing Director, Bayer Zydus Pharma & Country Division Head South Asia.

Commenting on the partnership, Jose Peter, Co-founder and CEO, Arogya Finance said, “We at Arogya Finance work to establish an ecosystem which benefits the patients and their caregivers through ease of financing solutions for treatment. Arogya Finance has partnered with Bayer so we can work together to deliver flexible financing solutions that support increased patient access to treatment to enable a greater number of individuals across India to benefit from the innovative therapy.”

Dr. Shobhit Chawla, President of Vitreo Retina Society of India (VRSI) and Sr. Vitreo Retina Consultant at Prakash Netra Kendra, Lucknow commented, “There is an urgent need to drive attention towards avoidable vision loss in India. Preventive care, diagnosis and adherence to long term treatment has been impacted during the pandemic. We have observed a drop in patient adherence to treatment for Wet AMD and DME, often due to financial constraints. This program offered by Arogya Finance in collaboration with Bayer will defiantly help patients to maintain good treatment compliance, thus ensuring they can access the best treatment options available. Such programs enable patients and their caregivers to focus on maintaining health with greater confidence and convenience, while reducing the financial burden.”