Antihypertensive Sales "Set To Decline"

The global antihypertensive market, now worth $24.7 billion, is set todecline from the start of the next century, despite a growing patient population and increasing market volume, says a new study from Datamonitor, available through the Marketletter's offices. This will be due to coming patent expiries on most calcium channel blockers and ACE inhibitors, which together currently account for more than 75% of the market.

Among the CCBs, the study forecasts that sales of Bayer's Adalat will drop from $1.16 billion last year to $82 million in 2010, and those of Hoechst Marion Roussel's Cardizem (diltiazem) will decline from $1.79 billion to $91 million. And while Pfizer's Norvasc (amlodipine) will continue to grow to reach $1.9 billion by 2005 from $1.79 billion in 1996, by 2010 its value will decline to $495 million.

Of the ACE inhibitors, Datamonitor expects that Merck & Co's Vasotec (enalapril) will be down from $2.53 billion in 1996 to $292 million in 2010, and Zeneca's Zestril (lisinopril) will fall from $1.03 billion to $172 million.