Pulmonary arterial hypertension treatment market to experience modest growth

The pulmonary arterial hypertension treatment market will experience modest growth from $3.45 billion in 2014 to $4.75 billion by 2024, according to research and consulting firm GlobalData.

The company’s latest report, OpportunityAnalyzer: Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension – Opportunity Analysis and Forecast to 2024, states that the increase in pulmonary arterial hypertension treatment market will be driven by new drug launches, the increased use of double and triple combination therapies, and patient assistance programmes by manufacturers.

Lakshmi Dharmarajan, Ph.D., GlobalData’s Senior Analyst covering Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disorders, says that despite these developments and growth in the pulmonary arterial hypertension arena, significant unmet needs will remain by 2024, the most crucial of which is to find a cure for the fatal disease.

Dharmarajan explains: “While there are currently 12 marketed pulmonary arterial hypertension therapies available, they only serve to slow disease progression. There is no marketed drug that addresses the underlying disease mechanism and targets to cure patients.

“The main challenges in developing curative or stabilising therapies come from a lack of understanding of the disease mechanism. This is not helped by the fact that most companies in the field are focusing their attention on reformulating existing pulmonary arterial hypertension drugs and enhancing patient convenience, rather than improving efficacy.”

The analyst adds that there is a great need to develop biomarkers and assays that could be used to predict patient response upfront and make treatment more personalised. However, there are no ongoing efforts to address this need in the pulmonary arterial hypertension therapeutics market.

Only two drugs in late-stage clinical development

GlobalData states that there are only two pulmonary arterial hypertension therapeutics in late-stage clinical development.

Dharmarajan continues: “The more promising of the two late-stage pipeline pulmonary arterial hypertension drugs is Actelion’s Uptravi, a first-in-class prostacyclin IP receptor agonist with a favorable clinical efficacy and safety profile. Uptravi was recently launched in the US in January 2016 and is estimated to be the highest revenue generator of the PAH market at the end of the forecast period, recording near-blockbuster sales of $996 million in 2024.

“The other Phase III candidate, Beraprost sodium 314d, does not demonstrate as much potential due to its lack of clinical superiority over other existing prostacyclin-based therapies.”

GlobalData believes that pharmaceutical companies should address unmet needs by focusing their attention on pulmonary arterial hypertension -specific mechanisms which, although wrought with a high risk of failure, could potentially lead to innovative and effective disease-modifying treatments.