Increasing competition from other biologics will continue to erode Enbrel's dominance in the psoriasis drug market, DR report concludes

As a result of increasing competition from other biologic agents, Amgen/Pfizer/Takeda's Enbrel (etanercept) - the leading therapy in the psoriasis drug market in 2008 - will account for less than one-fifth of sales in the overall market in 2018, according to a new study from research and advisory firm Decision Resources.

In 2008, Enbrel garnered half of the psoriasis drug market share in the world's top seven markets ' the USA, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and Japan. However, Amgen reported flat sales of Enbrel in the fourth quarter of quarter of at $912 million, affected by a low single-digit decline in units sold due to increased competitive activity in dermatology, offset by an increase in average net sales price. For the full year, Enbrel revenues fell 3% to $3.49 billion (The Pharma Letter January26).

The Pharmacor 2010 findings from the topic entitled Psoriasis show that the continued uptake of marketed and emerging drugs from the interleukin inhibitors and TNF-alpha inhibitors drug classes and the anticipated launch of biosimilar etanercept will continue to erode Enbrel's near-term market share, despite an increase in the penetration of biologics in the moderate-to-severe patient population.