Respiratory Disease Sector Offers a Breath of Fresh Air for Medical Professionals
Has pharma bucked the trend by remaining a vibrant market during a global economic downturn? If the respiratory sector were taken as a snapshot of the industry as a whole, then the answer would be a resounding “yes”! Whilst oncology drugs continue to generate the most sales worldwide, respiratory products occupy a solid and respectable second place.
For example, according to data from IMS Health, in the US market alone in 2010, sales of respiratory drugs were up 6.5 percent on the previous year, topping some 19.3 billion dollars. GlaxoSmithKline’s Advair Diskus was ranked fourth overall in a list of two hundred best-selling drugs, with sales just short of 5 billion dollars, and Merck’s Singulair came a strong seventh, crossing the 4 billion dollar threshold. What’s more, Boehringer Ingelheim (Spiriva Handihaler, Combivent), Schering (Nasonex), AstraZeneca (Symbicort), GSK (Flovent), Teva (ProAir HFA, Budesonide) and Medimmune (Synagis) all have drugs within the top one hundred.
These drugs are leading the pack of products for highly prized market sector. It is estimated that by 2020, 11.9 million people will die from respiratory diseases. But it is not just the sheer size of this disease area alone that is alarming, but also the range of diseases sitting within. With asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), bronchitis, pneumonia, adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and bronchiectasis to name but a few, it has become clear that there is no single silver bullet available to deal with them all.
As such, the sector is growing, leading to a host of new opportunities for respiratory-focused roles for the medical professional. Indeed, in the last six months, ProClinical has witnessed the number of openings in this areas significantly spiralling upwards.
Respiratory disease sector growth has traditionally been driven by the more well-off, technology-rich countries, including Europe, the US, Canada, Australia and Japan. However, the signs are that they are being seen increasingly in emerging markets. For example, in 2010 device manufacturer Philips suggested that there were some two hundred million suffering from respiratory diseases in these markets. Moreover, in the same year, generics manufacturer SOHM noted that respiratory drug market size was valued at approximately 600 million dollars per annum. This month the China Daily also reported that increased smog in Beijing is resulting in a spike in lung disorders.
Pharmaceutical and biotech companies have taken note of the explosion in respiratory diseases, according to strategic business intelligence provider GlobalData, with nineteen clinical trials being conducted as of January 2011 - seven of these in the US. New treatments are expected to emerge in a matter of years for disease sub-sectors such as COPD, which is set to enjoy a compound annual growth rate of 4.7 percent, reaching 12.2 billion dollars in 2017. As the market continues to expand, opportunities for medical professionals will continue to open up.
In the next issue, we will tackle oncology, the leading disease sector by value and another area that is witnessing a boom in medical positions.
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