HIV Drug Market to Grow to More Than $8 Billion by 2013

WALTHAM, Mass. -- Decision Resources, Inc., a leading research and advisory firm focusing on pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, forecasts that the HIV drug market will grow to more than $8 billion by 2013. Novel therapeutic classes that augment treatment options for the treatment-experienced population will drive the market.

The new Pharmacor study, titled "Human Immunodeficiency Virus," finds that,

despite advances in therapy, the HIV drug market is constrained by social and

political pressures on the pharmaceutical industry.

"HIV is a highly politically and socially charged disease, this factor has

important implications for drug developers," said Aarti Raja, PhD, an analyst with

Decision Resources. "Pharmaceutical manufacturers have been under increasing

public pressure to address the global HIV crisis by drastically reducing drug

prices for developing countries. Beyond the profitability concerns directly

related to the developing world, manufacturers worry that the high price

differentials created by such a move may increase price pressure in the major

markets."

Since its identification in the early 1980s, HIV has become one of the

most serious epidemics of modern times and a significant source of morbidity,

mortality, and cost to society. Beginning in the late 1980s, advances in the

understanding and treatment of HIV, particularly the development of highly

active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), have substantially halted the

progression of HIV and reduced mortality from AIDS.

Source: Decision Resources, Inc.