Microvascular complications of diabetes: market forecasts

The growth of the diabetic population worldwide has created marketopportunities for therapies that address three microvascular complications of diabetes - nephropathy, neuropathy and retinopathy, says a new study from Decision Resources, which notes that chronic hyperglycemia puts all diabetics at risk of developing these conditions.

The marketplace for the three microvascular complications of diabetes consists of unique areas of varying opportunity and possible challenges, says the study. For diabetic retinopathy, which DR describes as the most promising market of the three, protein kinase C inhibitors such as Eli Lilly's LY-333531 have enormous market potential because the near-lack of existing pharmacotherapy has kept drug-treatment rates below 15%. Other emerging therapies, such as somatostatin analogs, will find their own niches in the treatment of patients in the early stages of retinopathy or those with atypical symptoms and, together, these agents will drive the retinopathy market to 25% annual growth during 2000-2010, it forecasts.

The development of effective therapies for diabetic neuropathy has been plagued by failures and near-misses, so the unmet need for effective therapies remains considerable, the study goes on. DR expects seven new agents to find a niche in this market, but adds that they will make up just over 10% of the 2010 sales total. Fueled by their entrenched positions as first-line therapies, anticonvulsants and aldose reductase inhibitors will maintain their market dominance throughout the next decade, but there will still be a need for safe, effective and, ideally, disease-modifying agents, it adds.