DRUG DISCOVERY MARKET ANALYSIS

Market Challenges And Opportunities

Drug Discovery Market Dynamics

A patent cliff provides an opportunity for manufactures to collaborate and participate in current drug discovery model to sustain in the market. Manufacturers such as, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Takeda, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Gilead lost their patent in 2017, with some of their respective big sellers that cover a range of indications such as multiple sclerosis, HIV, erectile dysfunction, and cancer. Such patent loss forces companies to introduce innovative products to retain their revenues and increase their revenue. After patent expiration, generic manufacturers enter the market and provide drugs that are equivalent to the innovator’s drugs, however, at a significantly lower price. Therefore, manufacturers are focusing on developing new and innovative products to sustain in the competitive market.

Increasing prevalence of wide range of disease such as cancer, cardiovascular, and CNS-related disorders with patent expiration of blockbuster drugs are some of the driving factors for growth of the drug discovery market. According to the World Cancer Research Fund International, 2015, an estimated 124,000 new cases of myeloma were diagnosed globally in 2015, which accounted for 0.8% of the total cancer cases. The mortality rate of the disease is around 0.9% of all cancer deaths, accounting for 87,000 deaths each year. Therefore, key manufacturers are actively involved in the development of immunotherapies targeting B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) such as chimeric antigen receptor T-cells (CAR-T cells), bispecific antibodies, and antibody drug conjugates (ADCs). For instance, in 2012, the University of Pennsylvania and Novartis entered into an exclusive global research and licensing agreement to study and commercialize novel cellular immunotherapies using chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) technologies. In 2016, Juno Therapeutics entered into a licensing agreement with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and Eureka Therapeutics for developing CAR T cell immunotherapy against multiple novel targets.