Cardiac Disease Market Opportunities

Worldwide cardiac disease drug sales totaled $21 billion in 1995, or 40%of the global cardiovascular disease market, estimates a new study from Datamonitor.

The market is crowded and mature, yet cardiac disease therapy remains palliative, not curative, and opportunities exist in many areas of unmet need. Innovative drugs could easily attain blockbuster status and access to formularies, while successful disease management programs could identify patients most at risk, cut treatment costs and lessen the burden on physicians and hospitals, it says.

The report notes that antihypertensives account for 59% of total cardiovascular drug market sales. While this market is generally mature, Datamonitor believes that ACE inhibitor sales can expand spatially from their US core, and generically, since the patent expiry of Bristol-Myers Squibb's Capoten (captopril) in 1996 opened the way for generic competition. To make the most of the opportunities, ACE inhibitor makers must focus on improving their distribution strategies, it says.