Market Challenges And Opportunities

Global Morquio Syndrome (MPS-IV) Drug Market – Drivers

Increasing launch of awareness campaigns: Increasing adoption of inorganic growth strategies such as launch of awareness campaigns is expected to drive the market growth over the forecast period. For instance, in May 2019, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited., a global pharmaceutical company, announced that they had launched #MPSAware campaign to coincide with MPS Awareness Day on May 15th 2019. The campaign aims to raise awareness of this group of seven rare genetic diseases and to recognize the patients, carers, and healthcare professionals living and working with MPS (mucopolysaccharidoses) diseases.
Improving healthcare infrastructure: Improving healthcare infrastructure across the world is set to be a major driver of growth in the global morquio syndrome (MPS-IV) drug market in the near future. The MPS diseases are a group of rare, genetic, metabolic disorders categorized as lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs). As more countries focus on expanding access to advanced healthcare and building out their medical systems, more people around the world will be able to receive effective treatment and management of morquio syndrome. Better access to diagnosis and long-term care will be important for driving long-term patient adherence and compliance to therapies as well. This helps minimize complications and produce the best health outcomes. As public health systems mature in more locations around the globe, they will strengthen the foundations for sustainable growth of the morquio syndrome market in the near future.

Global Morquio Syndrome (MPS-IV) Drug Market – Opportunities

Emerging markets in Asia Pacific and Latin America: Emerging markets in Asia Pacific and Latin America offer immense potential for growth in global morquio syndrome (MPS-IV) drug market. Morquio syndrome (MPS-IV) is prevalent in developing nations and according to World Health Organization (WHO), countries like India, Brazil, China, and Mexico account for a major share of the global disease burden. These emerging economies are witnessing rapid economic and infrastructural development which is improving access to healthcare. Simultaneously, growing health awareness and expanded insurance coverage are enabling more patients to seek treatment. Pharmaceutical companies can capitalize on these favorable dynamics. Governments in the region have indicated their commitment in tackling non-communicable diseases have launched public health programs that are focused on early detection and management of conditions like morquio syndrome. For instance, the National Medical Mission under India’s Ayushman Bharat initiative aims to set up 1.5 million health and wellness centers by 2023, which will boost screening efforts (NITI Aayog, 2020).
Rising healthcare expenditure: The significant factor influencing the growth rate of the global morquio syndrome (MPS-IV) drug market is the growing healthcare expenditure, which helps in improving its infrastructure. For instance, in June 2020, according to the International Health Care System of the U.S., , S. government organizations aim to improve the healthcare infrastructure by increasing funding, setting legislation, and national strategies, and cofounding and setting basic requirements and regulations for the Medicaid program. Similarly, in November 2022, the Canadian Institute for Health Information reported that the total healthcare expenditure in Canada was US$ 331 Bn in 2022, or US$ 8,563 per Canadian, while health expenditure represented 12.2% of Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022, following a high of 13.8% in 2020.

Global Morquio Syndrome (MPS-IV) Drug Market - Restraint

Lack of skilled healthcare professionals: Low diagnosis rate, lack of awareness, and exorbitant treatment costs are regarded to be limiting factors for market expansion. The condition can only be treated with a small number of drugs; hence cost of care is anticipated to be significant. Further, it is anticipated that high product costs and inadequate reimbursement rules, particularly in the price-sensitive sector, will impede market expansion.

Counterbalance: The key market players need to increase the awareness of the treatment and also provide proper reimbursement policies, so that the high treatment costs could be easily undertaken by the patients.

Limited patient pool: Another challenge restricting the market potential is the small patient population. Morquio syndrome is considered an ultra-rare disease with a very low prevalence globally. Recruiting adequate number of patients for clinical trials is difficult due to the limited availability of subjects. As a result, drug developers have to conduct multi-country trials to attain sufficient statistical power. This increases costs, complexity, and development timelines, thus discouraging investments. Moreover, drug efficacy is difficult to establish for rare diseases with the restricted patient samples. The low commercial viability due to small addressable market also deters large pharmaceutical players. Targeting orphan indications requires long-term commitment and novel clinical trial designs for overcoming these restraints.

Counterbalance: In conclusion, while growing disease awareness and presence of robust pipeline are stimulating opportunities, prohibitive treatment costs and limited patient pool remain major bottlenecks for the MPS-IV drugs market. However, ongoing collaborative research efforts hold promise to develop more affordable and patient-friendly therapeutic molecules in the near future.