Competitor Analysis: Interferon

The Competitive Intelligence Report Interferon as of November 2008 provides a competitor analysis in the development pipeline of novel recombinant and natural interferon alpha, beta, gamma and of other subtypes for treatment of infectious diseases, cancer and multiple sclerosis, respectively.

Total sales of the major interferon alpha, beta and gamma products in 2007 were in excess of US$ 7.2 bln, the majority (US$ 4.6 bln) attributable to beta interferons for treatment of multiple sclerosis. While manufacturers of 1st generation interferon alpha successfully have converted their interferon alpha sales into those of 2nd generation pegylated products, no second generation interferon beta products are in the clinical stage pipeline of any company. The field of beta interferon is far less crowded than that of interferon alpha, despite a nearly two-fold higher market size. This would offer a great opportunity for biosimilar (biogeneric) versions of 1st generation interferon beta products, but surprisingly clinical stage drug candidates are scarce despite numerous preclinical stage projects. In contrast, a huge number of different 1st generation interferon alpha products are produced and marketed in off-patent countries. Quite a number of new developments of long-acting or oral interferon alpha products are in development and will compete with pegylated interferons of established manufacturers Roche and Schering-Plough.

The report describes the market size of the major type interferon products, provides information on the marketed interferon preparations and includes a compilation of current active projects in research and development of novel interferon products. Competitor projects are listed in a tabular format providing information on:

• Drug Codes,
• Target / Mechanism of Action,
• Class of Compound,
• Company,
• Product Category,
• Indication,
• R&D Stage and
• additional comments with a hyperlink leading to the source of information.