Report claims 15% rise in MS treatment revenue by 2011

Steady, double-digit growth pushed the worldwide sales of multiple sclerosis treatments from $4.4 billion in 2004 to nearly $5.9 billion in 2006, a trend Multiple Sclerosis: Worldwide Market Outlook to 2011, a new report by Kalorama Information, a medical market research firm, expects to continue through 2011, when the market should reach $11.9 billion.

Approval of four MS treatment therapies, which generated more than $1.0 billion in sales each in 2006, contributed to the market's 15% increase over 2004, and Kalorama expects that new formulations for existing treatments and new developments, as well as the rising rate of MS across several regions worldwide, will support a 15.2% revenue increase over the next five years.

Steven Heffner, a Kalorama spokesman, said that "regions that were once considered to have low incidence and prevalence of MS are now displaying increases that were not apparent even within the last 10 years."