Massive Growth For Parkinson's Market

The worldwide market for Parkinson's disease treatments will grow froma value of $1.2 billion now to $2.5 billion in 2000, driven by the development of new drugs, says a new study from Datamonitor, available through the Marketletter's offices.

The two most important dopamine agonists are SmithKline Beecham's ReQuip (ropinirole) and Pharmacia & Upjohn's Mirapex (pramipexole). The report says ReQuip's sales will reach $240 million in 2000 and $400 million by 2005, while Mirapex will reach $125 million and $240 million in the two years.

Also holding promise are the catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibitors. Of these, Datamonitor forecasts that Roche's already-launched Tasmar (tolcapone) will have sales of $400 million by 2000, while sales of Novartis' Comtan (entacapone), which has been filed in Europe and the USA, will reach $225 million by that year.