Due to the absence of promising products in the pipeline or expected new drug launches, the macular degeneration market in the Asia-Pacific region (India, Australia, China and Japan) is expected to undergo a moderate increase from $675.7m in 2012 to $1,016.1m by 2019, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 6%, says business intelligence provider GBI Research.
According to the company’s latest report, Japan represented 53% of the macular degeneration market in the Asia-Pacific region in 2012, followed by Australia, with a 33% share. Although there is currently no prominent drug launches scheduled, the market is set to grow moderately due to an increase in the region’s aging population.
Additionally, in 2012, approximately 98% of the global wet Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) market revenue was generated by anti-angiogenic therapies.
The cumulative revenue achieved by these therapies (Lucentis, Eylea and Macugen) was found to be $4.9 billion. Nearly 80% of the revenue was generated by Lucentis, followed by the new entrant, Eylea, with a share of 18%.
Another market driver is the considerable research and development (R&D) activities surrounding novel and effective diagnostic tools for the identification of AMD, such as ArcticDx Inc., which has developed a test to determine a person’s inherited risk for AMD.
However, the high annual cost of therapy for the AMD drugs, excluding the off-label Avastin, challenges the number of people using the treatment, especially in countries such as India and China, due to low healthcare access.
Sravanthi Addapally, GBI Research’s Analyst, says: “Along with the high cost of therapy, patient compliance also diminishes following a slight improvement in vision or attainment of symptomatic relief. Such reduced adherence to the treatment regimen could be a barrier to the macular degeneration therapeutics market.”
Additionally, there is a high percentage of failure rates in both early and late-stage clinical trials of the therapy, which could also hinder further market growth.
