Macular edema therapeutics market set to reach $2.57 billion by 2018

The macular edema therapeutics market is forecast to show significant growth until 2018, according to a new report from GlobalData, which valued the global sector at $1.29 billion in 2010 and expects this to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.9%, and reach $2.57 billion by 2018.

This growth is primarily attributed to the increase in the prevalence and incidence rates of diabetes across the seven major markets such as the USA, the UK, Japan, Germany, Spain, Italy and France.

Macular edema is a slowly progressing disease, and diabetes is cited as the main cause of the condition. The growth in the market will be supported and driven by the increased use of off-label drugs such as Roche’s Avastin (bevacizumab), the introduction of new drugs and the two newly approved drugs Ozurdex (dexamethasone) from Allergan and Lucentis (ranibizumab) from Roche and Novartis - for the treatment of macular edema following retinal vein occlusion (RVO).