Generics "striking at the heart of the antihypertensives market," Datamonitor

Even though there are almost 200 million people suffering from hypertension or high blood pressure in the western world alone, the growth rate of the antihypertensive market is actually slowing. In 2005, the antihypertensive market grew only 4.3% and, in a new report titled Commercial Insight: Antihypertensives - New challenges for a maturing market, independent market analyst Datamonitor forecasts that growth between 2006 and 2010 this will slow even further, largely due to the ever-increasing presence of generic drugs in the market.

While the generic invasion is cutting into branded pharmaceutical sales in all markets, the USA is expected to be the hardest hit. In fact, notes Datamonitor, many pharmaceutical companies - including those with strong cardiovascular portfolios currently- are turning their back on the cardiovascular market in favor of more profitable indications, such as oncology.

The generic invasion