Neuropathy, a Growing Market

Today's post comes from thefreelibrary.com (see link below) and is a report by WWMR, (a world wide marketing research company) first published in 2004. It predicts that by 2012, the market for treatment drugs for neuropathy will top $1 billion in the US, Japan and five major markets in Western Europe. As it's now 2012, I'm curious how accurate the prediction proved to be. Unfortunately, however much money is being earned from the medication of neuropathy, there's still no effective, universal treatment!

Peripheral Neuropathy Market Approaches $1B by 2012; Diabetics, HIV/AIDS and Cancer Patients Drive Growth.

The term peripheral neuropathy encompasses a wide range of disorders in which the nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord—peripheral nerves—have been damaged. World wide peripheral neuropathy, is a recently released report from EP Publications, a service of WWMR (Worldwide Marketing Research), Inc.

This report forecasts the value of the peripheral neuropathy market by drug class, by condition and by country. It describes the commercial potential for current and upcoming drug classes in seven individual countries, the US, Japan and five leading Western European markets. Patient sub- populations associated with diabetes, HIV/AIDS and chemotherapy treatment are estimated through 2012.

More than One Billion Are Affected Patients in the U.S., Europe, and Japan currently suffer the symptoms of this frequently under-diagnosed and irreversible condition each year. This population is projected to surpass 1.5 billion patients through 2012, growing more than 2.5% in these countries each year.

New Agents Hold Promise
-- Until now, hope for the treatment of peripheral neuropathy has relied solely -- and ineffectively -- on ameliorating the symptoms of pain and numbness, and addressing the root cause of the nerve damage. A promising pipeline of therapeutics -- including Eli Lilly's phase IIINoun 1. phase III -inhibitor, ruboxistaurin has the potential to significantly improve the quality of life of those affected.

Pipeline Products Reflect Various Mechanisms of Action

Worldwide, at least 18 agents are in development for treating peripheral neuropathy; these drugs utilize molecular approaches ranging from the reduction of oxidative stress, to stimulate nerve growth

Clinical success of these products would transform the treatment of peripheral neuropathy into a key emerging pharmaceutical market by 2012 in the top seven pharmaceutical country-markets.

Promising new treatments include:

-- Aldose reductase inhibitors epalrestat (Ono Pharmaceutical), fidarestat
(N.K. Curex / Sanwa Kagaku Kenkyusho / Sankyo), zenarestat (Fujisawa /
Pfizer);
-- Carnitine acetyltransferase stimulant levacecarnine / carnitine (Sigma
Tau / GlaxoSmithKline);
-- Cannabinoid receptor antagonist THC:CBD (GW Pharmaceuticals / Bayer
AG); chemoprotectants dimesna (BioNumerik Pharmaceuticals / Baxter
Oncology) and amifostine (MedImmune Oncology);
-- Dopamine receptor agonist uridine (Polifarma / AMINO GmbH);
-- Interleukin-6 (Serono);
-- Nerve growth factor agonist TAK 428 (Takeda);
-- Prosaposin-derived peptide prosaptide TX14 A (Savient Pharmaceuticals);
prostacyclin agonist beraprost (Toray Industries / Kaken);
-- Prostaglandin E agonist liposomal alprostadil (Endovasc Ltd.);

-- Vascular endothelial growth factor VEGF (Caritas St. Elizabeth's
Medical Center of Boston);
-- Copolymer surfactant poloxamer 188 NF (CytRx);
-- Ion channel modulator ABT 202 (Abbott Laboratories / Neurosearch);
-- Protein kinase C inhibitor ruboxistaurin (Eli Lilly); and
-- Drugs including QR 333 (Quigley Corporation), with undefined mechanisms
of action.

About WWMR, Inc.

WWMR, Inc., http://www.wwmr.com/, is an established marketing research and strategic consulting firm
Since 1994, WWMR, Inc., has provided over 1000 insightful, proprietary studies to pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, and diagnostics companies worldwide. Using primary and secondary research methodologies, WWMR, Inc., provides market and product assessments, competitive intelligence, forecast modeling, patient population projections, product launch monitoring (pre- and post-), primary marketing research and medical economic analyses.
WWMR's other recent reports include:

-- U.S. Neuropathic Pain
-- European Neuropathic Pain
-- Brand Erosion by Generics
-- Rx Brand Erosion by OTC Switches
-- European Pharmaceutical Pricing and Reimbursement
-- Patient Compliance

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Peripheral+Neuropathy+Market+Approaches+$1B+by+2012%3B+Diabetics,...-a0115037127