The "alarming prevalence rate" of diabetes means that "with a slew of effective formulations in the pipeline, competition in the market will be turned up a few notches".
That is the view of researchers at Frost & Sullivan who have issued a new analysis of the European diabetes market. The report notes that the latter earned revenues of $8.60 billion in 2010 and estimates this to reach approximately $13.97 billion in 2017, a compound annual growth rate of 7.2% from 2010-2017.
F&S notes that long-acting insulins are expected to have a large market in the future and "new therapeutic classes of drugs are expected to be a major contributor". However, "participants in this space are battling pricing pressures" but high levels of competition, improved therapies and the introduction of biosimilars "will help deal with this issue".
The study notes that "major concerns surrounding drug safety and side effects have created cause for concern among participants". As such, stricter European Medicines Agency and US Food and Drug Administration guidelinesmeans that "safety issues are bound to have a high impact in the future".
The F&S analysis claims that "to ensure market progression, it is vital to build awareness on disease management". Specifically, it states that participants "need access to an interdisciplinary healthcare team that must be alert to new innovations to help develop treatment plans" and "it is also essential to drive home the importance of diet and exercise".
F&S research analyst K Srinivas Sashidhar noted that in 2010, the incidence of diabetes was highest in Germany, with 7.4 million patients, followed by France, Italy and Spain. This is going to accelerate by 2030 and is estimated to increase in smaller regions such as the Benelux and Scandinavia.
He concludes by saying that new kinds of therapeutic classes, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists and new combination therapies will take market prospects forward, while the old treatment metformin "will continue to be a strong competing product in Europe".
