Competition Heats Up For HIV Drug Makers

Patent expiries combined with new drugs, drug classes and an increased need worldwide will stir up the HIV market in the coming years, according to a new Datamonitor report.

The report anticipates a growth from $9.3 billion in 2007 to $15.1 billion in 2017 – across the seven major markets: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, UK and the US.

In conjunction with the market's growth, the competition will grow as well, across all antiretroviral drug classes, the report posits. According to Mansi Shah, an analyst at Datamonitor, California biotech Gilead leads the market currently with four marketed products.

Gilead's Truvada was the “bestselling drug in 2007 with revenues of $1.5 billion, while Atripla, a Gilead and Bristol-Myers Squibb's product generated 2007 sales of $920 million.

GlaxoSmithKline has led the category in the past, but faces patent expiries and other research and development hurdles. A further setback for GSK arrived when several independent studies found its Epzicom FDC – a Truvada competitor – is both less effective in certain patients and may have an increased risk of causing heart attacks.

Competition among protease inhibitors has accelerated based on two pivotal clinical trials, CASTLE and ARTEMIS. The trial results caused Kaletra, previously the undisputed leader in the category, to falter, with BMS's Reyataz and Tibotec/Johnson & Johnson's Prezista picking up the slack. Datamonitor predicts that Reyataz and Prezista will become the leading PIs by 2017.

Between September 2007 and January 2008, three new HIV drugs were approved, two of which have seen a significant uptake in the market. Merck's Isentris, and Tibotec's Intelence are already being widely used in highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimens.

The Datamonitor report, titled Commercial Insight: HIV – The battle for market share is getting fiercer, also points out that emerging markets outside of the major seven will become more important, given that HIV rates in the major seven markets represent only three to six percent of the globally infected population. Canada's HIV market, for instance, grew by 24% from 2004 to 2007, to $272 million, according to the report. Courtesy mmm-online.com