[Ip-health] Datamonitor Report: AIDS Market To Grow

[Judit Rius Sanjuan]

 From Pharmalot / Ed Silverman:

http://pharmalot.com/2007/04/aids_market_to_mushroom_report.php

April 12, 2007
AIDS Market To Mushroom: Report

The launch of new drugs and an increase in the number of people
diagnosed with HIV is set to make AIDS medicine a $10.6 billion market
by 2015, according to a Datamonitor report. That would be a significant
increase from about $7.1 billion in 2005.

For drugmakers, this brings good and bad news. Big pharma may be under
pressure to cut prices in the developing world, but selling HIV drugs in
the West remains a lucrative and fast-growing business. The research
firm says sales growth will come from new drugs with novel mechanisms
and next-generation versions of existing meds.

Most cases of HIV/AIDS occur in sub-Saharan Africa, where lack of
funding means treatment is restricted and prices are under pressure,
resulting in little if any profit for multinational drug firms. Abbott,
for instance, just slashed the price in 45 countries, including
Thailand, where the government threatened to issue a compulsory license
for its Kaletra AIDS drug.

At the same time, however, AIDS is is also increasing in the developed
world, with an estimated 2.1 million people in North America and Western
Europe living with HIV in 2006, up from 1.9 million in 2004.

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/070412/aids_drugs.html?.v=1

AIDS drugs sales seen topping $10 billion by 2015
Thursday April 12, 3:42 am ET
By Ben Hirschler/ Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - The launch of new drugs and an increase in the number
of people diagnosed with HIV is set to make AIDS medicine a $10.6
billion market by 2015, according to a report on Thursday.

Drugmakers may be under pressure to cut prices in the developing world
but selling HIV drugs in the West remains a lucrative and fast-growing
business.

Independent market research firm Datamonitor said the HIV/AIDS market
was set to undergo significant changes over the next 10 years as drugs
that work through novel mechanisms and next-generation versions of
existing drugs are launched.

Sales, as a result, should rise significantly from about $7.1 billion in
2005, benefiting a clutch of companies with promising new products,
including Merck & Co Inc. (NYSE:MRK), Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE, Gilead
Sciences Inc. (NasdaqGS:GILD) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ).

Most cases of HIV/AIDS occur in sub-Saharan Africa, where lack of
funding means treatment is restricted and prices are under pressure,
resulting in little if any profit for multinational drug firms.

Just this week Abbott Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:ABT), widely criticized
for aggressive pricing of its AIDS medicines, agreed to slash the price
of its Kaletra AIDS drug by more than half in more than 40 poor countries.

But at the same time the disease is also increasing in the developed
world, with an estimated 2.1 million people in North America and Western
Europe living with HIV in 2006, up from 1.9 million in 2004.

"Advances in antiretroviral therapy have turned HIV from a universally
feared death sentence into a chronic disease with an average life
expectancy similar to that of Type 2 diabetes," Datamonitor analyst
Mansi Shah said.

"Because of this, attitudes towards HIV have become relatively blase
amongst some groups."

Notable new types of drugs include Pfizer's maraviroc, a CCR5 inhibitor,
and Merck's raltegravir, an integrase inhibitor, which are expected to
be launched in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

They will complement new generation forms of existing drug classes, such
as Johnson & Johnson's recently approved Prezista, a protease inhibitor.

Such products offer new treatment options for the growing number of
patients whose disease no longer responds to existing drugs.

At the same time, other companies are developing improved fixed-dose
drug combinations, including Atripla from Gilead, which combines the
components of current drug cocktails into a single pill that can be
taken once a day.

Atripla was launched in the United States last year and is expected to
take market share from its two components Truvada and Sustiva, as well
as competitor drugs such as GlaxoSmithKline Plc's (LSE:GSK.L) Combivir,
Datamonitor said.

The global market for all pharmaceuticals grew 7 percent last year to
$643 billion, according to estimates from another market research
company, IMS Health, released last month.

--
Judit Rius Sanjuan
Attorney
judit.rius@keionline.org

Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
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