Therapeutics for Immune System Disorders

Additional Information

INTRODUCTION

STUDY GOAL AND OBJECTIVES

This in-depth study examines recent commercial developments in immune disease treatments. There has been an explosion in knowledge concerning the immune system, and tremendous advancements in disease diagnosis and therapies with novel approaches - predominantly biologic-based treatments - replacing the traditional methods where emphasis was to treat the symptoms in order to improve the quality of life of the patient rather than treating the underlying cause of a disease. Over the past decade this new approach to immune disease has resulted in a wealth of new drugs and procedures that selectively target the causes of immune disease. This report forecasts that this trend will continue and the worldwide market for drugs that treat immune diseases will grow from an estimated $72.2 billion in 2010 to $82.2 billion by 2015. These diseases represent some of the largest market opportunities for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies since they are common and chronic and historic treatments have been largely ineffective. The study examines the current market for the treatment of immune disease and then projects the effects of new technologies upon this market. It contains detailed analysis and provides market forecasts for the period of 2010 through 2015 and profiles the major companies involved in treating immune disease.

This report also analyzes various regulatory and market trends that will impact major immune disease segments during the forecast period. Challenges in the areas of technology and therapy are analyzed in detail and how these will be translated into important market trends and future business strategies are studied in depth and presented in the report. Finally, analysis of technology trends has been presented in the report, identifying how the most prevalent technologies in the market have changed over the past decade with the advent of biologics and future growth trends.

REASONS FOR DOING THE STUDY

BCC published a comprehensive report on the same topic in 2003 (BIO025C New Treatments and Advances in Immune Diseases). The emerging trends identified in 2003 have become more established during the past 7 years. Moreover, new trends are emerging in terms of advanced technologies and business strategies resulting in novel business models. The role of the biotechnology industry in the pharmaceutical market has become more prominent, which is strongly reflected in the immune disease sector. Based on these observations, it seems to be an appropriate time to take a look into the industry and assess the new trends and the direction the industry is taking.

INTENDED AUDIENCE

This report offers a broad, yet detailed, overview of immune disease and the drugs that treat immune disease. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies working in the field will find the report useful in that it provides an unbiased assessment of the market potential of this field. In addition, the report provides an explanation of both the technology and the market effects of various new developments that the field is facing such as new biologic targets that play key roles in different immune diseases; drugs with novel methods of delivery offering a leap in convenience and efficacy; regulatory restrictions that affect the sales of blockbuster drugs; and several other challenges in the international markets and the strategies adopted to deal with them. Investors will find the report particularly interesting since it analyzes the future potentials of major players and products in the field in a neutral manner.

SCOPE OF REPORT

This study surveys the market for small-molecules and biologic therapies for diseases caused by disorders of the immune system: therapies covered are either already used or will be used as medicine within the next 5 years. Promising drugs in the early stages of development are analyzed, but the emphasis is strongly upon drugs that are either on the market, or will be on the market within the time frame of this study.

In addition to profiling drugs and explaining the mechanism by which these drugs achieve their efficacy, the report breaks out the major medical markets for immune disease. This report does not cover drugs in pre-clinical testing in detail - even though some of the drugs with novel approaches are mentioned in the appropriate sections of the report. The report does not cover drugs that act to enhance the activity of the immune system against diseases such as cancer or opportunistic infections. Even though mechanisms of certain drugs help in the treatment of various cancer indications as well as immune diseases and are indicated for both, sales to those cancer-related indications are excluded as much as possible. Another therapeutic area that is excluded is Type-1 diabetes, though it is indeed an immune disease. This is excluded because most of the drugs are commonly used for both types of diabetes, and it is difficult to get an accurate idea about the sales exclusively for managing Type-1. Additionally, medical devices, or the direct costs of surgery to treat immune diseases, etc., are not covered. We believe that the market dynamics of these products and services are dramatically different than the pharmaceutical market and need to be dealt with as a separate report.

In general, this report contains:

• An overview of the background science of the immune system, classifications of various molecules involved in immune responses, and types of immune responses
• Detailed discussion of various technology types used to contain undesirable immune responses and drugs in each category
• Global sales projections through 2015 for various technology types and immune disease categories
• Key players in the market and their market shares
• Analysis of the key challenges of the immune disease sector and its influence in the growth of the field
• A discussion of specific immune diseases and their therapies
• Technology trends and patent analysis
• In-depth analysis of leading companies and their successful strategies.

INFORMATION SOURCES AND METHODOLOGY

The base year of this study is 2010. The market size reflects the global revenues of drugs estimated based on the market trends in the first 3 quarters of 2010. Generic drugs are not included in the study. Market figures are based on revenues at the manufacturer level and are projected at 2010 dollar values (inflation is not computed into the projection figures). Forecasts are largely based on the projections of the marketers. Growth of competing drugs, patient population, patent status, and lifecycle management strategies adopted by marketers have also been considered for estimating future growth trends.

The information and data to prepare this study were derived from regulatory agencies, trade literature, patient support groups, annual reports of companies and industry-related databases. The analyses presented are based on an extensive survey of the pharmaceutical industry as well as a detailed examination of published literature and reports obtained from regulatory authorities, medical research institutions, and national and world health organizations. Key information from the literature was used to obtain expert opinion and insights on commercial potential and market sizes from industry professionals, academic researchers, and government agency spokespersons.