Diabetes drugs market will reach $55.3bn in 2017, with further growth to 2023

Tuesday 4 June 2013, Amsterdam

A new report predicts the world market for diabetes medications will reach $55.3bn in 2017. The antidiabetic medicines industry generated $35.6bn in 2012, and its revenues will show strong growth to 2023. That sales forecast and others appear in Diabetes Treatments: World Drug Market 2013-2023, published in April 2013.

The analysis shows human insulins and analogues dominated the antidiabetics market in 2012. Furthermore, that submarket will maintain dominance in the overall diabetes treatments market to 2023. Also, rapid uptake of dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP)-4 inhibitors will stimulate overall revenue growth, owing to their safety profiles and once-daily dosage regimens. The overall diabetes drugs market will thus achieve strong growth to 2013, especially from 2013 to 2017. Its future is promising, based on existing drugs and agents under development. It has strong, broad-ranging R&D.

This study concludes that an increase in the worldwide incidence of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, coupled with increases in obesity, will stimulate growth of the diabetes drugs market. In addition, the new study predicts the market will increase in competition, as the development of type 1 and type 2 diabetes treatments remains profitable for pharmaceutical companies in the short and long term. Also, with companies entering the market from 2013, this report predicts more collaborations and alliances. In addition, the diabetes treatment industry and market will encourage combination therapy, with drugs developed as a monotherapy finding it harder in future to gain market share.

Hemant Mistry, a pharmaceutical industry analyst, said: “The incidence of diabetes will surge owing to rising levels of obesity and sedentary lifestyles in the global population. Those trends are most evident in emerging countries, such as China and India, which are expected to account for much of the growth of the treatment market. Also, as companies set up operations and facilities in developing countries, to harness the growing patient pool, this increases market competition. That trend helps stimulate innovation and price reductions, an incentive for less-affluent patients in developing countries.

“Furthermore, the diabetes drug market has a strong R&D pipeline. Also, there’s need for new antidiabetic treatments with improved efficacy and safety. In addition, as obesity is closely related to type 2 diabetes, medications that target long-term weight reduction and other related conditions are in high demand. Indeed, owing to the multifactorial aspects of diabetes, drug manufacturers developing medications for associated complications – obesity, heart disease, kidney disease or stroke – are evaluating medicines in clinical trials for treating diabetes. That expanded use of antidiabetics will offer drug manufacturers opportunities to tackle multiple aspects of metabolic disorders and to market drugs to a larger target population, increasing revenues and profits, as well as benefiting patients and healthcare providers. Worldwide, the diabetes drugs market retains great potential for increasing revenues, through technological and commercial progress.”