Mood Disorders Market Set To Grow To $9.5 Bill By 2004

Sales of drugs for mood disorders and related neuroses in Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Japan and the USA are forecast to grow by 102% over the next ten years, according to IMS' Pharma Strategy group, which says by the year 2004 the value of retail and hospital sales will reach $9.5 billion.

The compound annual growth rate for the total market will be strongest within the first half of the decade (13.8%) and more moderate (1.1%) in the second half. Throughout the forecast period, the USA will maintain its dominant position, capturing 70% of the total market in 2004. All the other countries will see their market share shrink. In 2004, the four European countries will capture almost 19% of the global market and Japan will hold the remaining 11%.

New Opportunities The changes in the classification of mood and related neuroses seems to have brought about a fundamentally different approach in drug development and product positioning, says the IMS study. Pipeline and existing products in this market are expanding their range of indications beyond the "traditional" diagnoses of anxiety and major depression. The formal approval of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors for obsessive-compulsive disorder is expected to take place by 1995/96 for most countries and to be extended into panic disorder by 1996/97. [In fact, Solvay's Luvox (fluvoxemine) was launched for OCD in the USA last December, and Lilly's Prozac (fluoxetine) was approved there in March 1994: Ed.]