Parkinson’s Disease: Global Market Value to Decrease by 2019 as Loss of Patent Halts Pharmaceutical

Monday 6 January 2014, Amsterdam

Due to upcoming patent expirations for four high-profile drugs, the global Parkinson’s Disease (PD) market is expected to decline from $3.4 billion in 2012 to $2.9 billion by 2019, at a negative Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 2.3%, says the new report.

The company’s latest report states that PD drugs, such as Azilect (rasagiline mesylate), Stalevo (levodopa, carbidopa, entacapone) and Comtan (entacapone), will lose their patents by the end of the forecast period. Generic alternatives for these treatments have already been approved, which will result in further market competition.

Additionally, the loss of patent for Mirapex (pramipexole dihydrochloride) and Exelon (rivastigmine tartrate) in 2010 and 2012 will continue to halt future PD market growth.

Angel Wong, an analyst, says: “In the most likely scenario, late-stage pipeline drugs, including Rytary, safinamide and pimavanserin, are expected to be approved and launched in the market within the forecast period. However, this won’t be significant enough to diminish the impact of generic erosion.”

Furthermore, with the majority of existing PD drugs focusing on symptomatic relief, a disease-modifying treatment remains an urgent unmet need in the PD market. The current pipeline consists of 21% neuroprotective targets, while 87% are currently in discovery and preclinical development. The remaining molecules are distributed in Phase I and Phase II.

“These targets represent innovation in the pipeline and could become effective disease-modifying treatments in the future. However, the development of such medication faces several challenges, including the absence of neuroprotective candidates in the late pipeline and the need for a reliable biomarker that can accelerate such development,” the analyst concludes.