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.
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