Effects of generics on depression treatment market: study

The heyday of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors for thetreatment of depression may be drawing to a close as generic substitutes threaten to erode the market share of their branded counterparts, says a new study from Decision Resources.

Over the next decade, marketing of both current and emerging antidepressants will present unique challenges and opportunities to companies competing in this area, says the study. Because of the heavy impact of generics over the 2000-2010 forecast period, DR expects US sales of drugs to treat depression to decline at an annual rate of 1%. The continued use of SSRIs (all of which will be generically-available by 2010) as first-line therapy in the majority of patients, and the modest uptake of newer antidepressants, will be the primary drivers of this decline, it says.

Throughout Europe, sales of drugs to treat depression are expected to grow at an annual rate of 2.2% through 2010, it adds. This growth reflects decreasing use of the older antidepressants in favor of the SSRIs and newer dual-action agents, whose generic availability in Europe will have only a modest impact on the class's value as a whole, plus increases in diagnosed and drug-treated populations in all countries. Although SSRIs and other newer antidepressants have gained popularity in the European countries in recent years, there is much room for growth, especially in Italy and Germany where physicians continue to prescribe the older antidepressants as first-line therapy.