Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Market to Reach $15.6 Bn

Tuesday 6 August 2013, Amsterdam

The global COPD market is estimated to be currently worth $11.3 bn, and forecast to reach $15.6 bn by 2019. Much of this growth will be fueled by a high number of new, more efficacious and convenient products entering the market and commanding greater value when compared to already-marketed therapies. These products will subsequently capture significant market share, making up approximately 44% of the market by 2019.

The drugs driving this growth include once-daily Long-Acting Beta Agonists/Long Acting Muscarinic Antagonist (LABA/LAMA) fixed dose combinations such as QVA-149, the umeclidinium bromide/vilanterol and olodaterol/tiotropium combinations. As well as being once-daily medications, these drugs have been shown to be more efficacious than currently available treatments, including the market leader Spiriva (tiotropium). The uptake of these drugs, and the likelihood of them being more expensive than marketed therapies, will drive market growth.

Despite recent patent expirations, including that of Advair Diskus (salmeterol/fluticasone propionate), a market leader, generic erosion in the COPD market may not be as pronounced as that observed in other indications. This is largely down to the difficulty in replicating a fixed-dose combination therapy and its associated device. Indeed, since its US patent expired in 2010, Advair Diskus has faced little generic competition.