LEPROSY TREATMENT MARKET ANALYSIS

Leprosy or Hansen's disease (HD) is a chronic infection caused by Mycobacterium lepromatosis or Mycobacterium leprae bacteria. Leprosy is principally a granulomatous disease. Symptoms of leprosy include reddish skin lesions, loss of sensation, and weakness of hands and muscles. Nerve damage is the primary cause for numbness of muscles. Leprosy is a communicable disease that can be propagated through contact with cough or phlegm of the affected person. Other risk factors of leprosy include malnutrition and weak immune system. Leprosy is especially prevalent in low-income countries.

Leprosy Treatment Market Outlook

According to the statistics received by the World Health Organization (WHO), from various regions (138 countries), the number of registered cases of leprosy was 176,176 in 2015, that is 0.18 cases per 10 000 people. The number of new cases shows the degree of sustained transmission of the disease. Global statistics illustrate that 203,600 (96%) of fresh leprosy cases were from 22 key countries. Prevalence of high occurrences is a reminder that some areas around the world show high incidences of the disease and experience very high rate of transmission. According to the WHO, around 16 million cases of leprosy have been treated in the last two decades. Governing bodies and governments alike are trying to eradicate the presence of the disease on a global scale. Owing to these factors, the leprosy treatment market is expected to grow at substantial rate over the forecast period (2016–2024).

Leprosy Treatment Market Taxonomy

On the basis of type of leprosy, the global leprosy treatment market is classified into:

• Early and indeterminate leprosy treatment
• Borderline tuberculoid leprosy treatment
• Tuberculoid leprosy treatment
• Borderline leprosy treatment
• Histoid leprosy treatment
• Lepromatous leprosy treatment
• Borderline lepromatous leprosy treatment
• Diffuse leprosy of Lucio and Latapí

On the basis of treatment, the global leprosy treatment market is classified into:

• Multidrug Therapy
• Others

On the basis of type of end user, the global leprosy treatment market is classified into:

• Government
• Hospitals
• Medical Practitioners
• Others

As per National Leprosy Eradication Programme (NLEP), leprosy has been broadly categorized into two segments namely, paucibacillary leprosy (one to five skin lesions, maximum one nerve with skin liaisons) and multibacillary leprosy (over six skin liaisons, more than one nerve with skin liaisons). Early detection of the disease is an important factor for effective treatment, though various drugs are available for late stage leprosy patients. The most common treatment is multidrug therapy. The drugs recommended by WHO multidrug therapy are rifampicin, dapsone, and clofazimine. Among these, rifampicin is most preferred for treatment of leprosy. Treatment with everyday dapsone and monthly treatment with rifampicin for six months is followed for paucibacillary (PB or tuberculoid) cases. For multibacillary (MB or lepromatous) cases, the treatment is a prolonged one. It includes daily dapsone and clofazimine. Additionally, monthly rifampicin is recommended for 12 months.  Side effects, resistance, and relapse rate are low in multidrug therapy. Some of the other drugs available for leprosy treatment are Rifadine and Rimactane. The leprosy treatment market is projected to witness a steep incline in the number of novel drugs and availability of the same, due to increasing initiatives across the globe to eradicate this menace.

Leprosy Treatment Market Future Outlook: Asia Pacific to be Key Growth Market

Leprosy has been endemic to mankind since many decades. This needed interference of various governments around the world as well as the World Health Organization. Governments play an important role in the leprosy treatment market. Ever since the introduction of multidrug therapy by WHO in 1982, governments around the world have adopted this treatment procedure on a large scale. Some of them subsidized the treatment to eradicate the presence of the disease from their countries. Therefore government regulation as well as adoption remains the most important driver of the leprosy treatment market.

Asia Pacific, especially India remains one of the most affected countries. As per the World Health Organization reports, about 59% of the new cases reported were from India. According to stats released by the Leprosy Mission Trust, around 127,000 new occurrences of leprosy were reported from India alone during 2013–2014. Out of these, about 46% were women and children. In India, the prevalence rate according to The Leprosy Mission Trust in the year 2014 was about 0.68 per 10,000 population. The National Leprosy Eradication Programme (NLEP) is one such initiative by the Indian government that aims to eradicate the disease from the country by 2018. Therefore, leprosy treatment market in this region is projected to grow at a considerable rate in the near future.

Key Players in Leprosy Treatment Market

Companies operating in the leprosy treatment market include Glaxo Smithcline Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Systopic Laboratories Pvt. Ltd., Acme Pharmaceuticals, Cadila Pharmaceuticals, Macleods Pharmaceuticals, IDPL, Astra Zeneca Pharma India Ltd., Lark Laboratories (UIndia) Ltd., Genetic Pharma, and Novartis International AG.

Key Developments

1. Key players in the market are focused on various business strategies such as gaining product approval from regulatory authorizes, in order to expand product portfolio and gain competitive edge in the market. For instance, in February 2019, Novartis International AG received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for ‘Egaten’, a drug used for fascioliasis and tropical diseases, which include leprosy.
2. Major players in the market are involved in different business strategies such as collaboration and partnership, in order to develop novel products. For instance, in March 2019, The Novartis Foundation, a non-profit organization and part of Novartis International AG, entered into partnership with Microsoft to develop artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled digital health tool and a leprosy intelligent image atlas to boost the early detection of leprosy.
3. Key companies in the market are focused on various business strategies such as partnership and collaboration, in order to provide better solution for leprosy treatment. For instance, in September 2018, HDT Biotech Corporation collaborated with Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) to develop cost-effective test with enhanced sensitivity for detecting infection with M. leprae, which causes leprosy.