Study confirms economic viability of orphan drugs positioned for unmet medical needs

Orphan drugs achieve blockbuster status in 2011 and generate over $50 billion in revenue, according to the results of a study by the Intellectual Property & Science business of Thomson Reuters on orphan drugs, developed to treat rare diseases, which found that they have the potential to generate as much lifetime revenue as drugs used for more common health conditions.

The findings are featured in the Thomson Reuters paper, titled The Economic Power of Orphan Drug and in Drug Discovery Today. Rare diseases affect from a handful to up to 200,000 patients and include illnesses such as cystic fibrosis, Wilson’s disease and homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia. Current estimates indicate that 250 new rare diseases are identified annually.