U.S. CONTRACEPTIVES DRUGS AND DEVICES MARKET ANALYSIS

Market Challenges And Opportunities

Oral pills resulting in volatility in the U.S. contraceptive drugs and devices market

Private companies have high interest in selling contraceptive pills as they generate continuous revenues for them compared to one-time long acting contraceptive methods. Furthermore, patent expiration is projected to lead to a barrage of generics entering into the market, further reducing overall average cost of drugs and in turn market revenue. Global generic pharmaceutical companies such as Teva Pharmaceuticals, Lupin Laboratories and Cipla Limited are at pace to launch their generic versions. Emergency contraceptive pills are among the most popular category of pills owing to extensive promotion activities to market these products.

Favorable reimbursement scenario increasing adoption of contraceptives among low and middle-income population

Long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC) are given complete insurance coverage by the U.S. Affordable Care Act. However, oral pills that generate sustainable revenue are of interest to market players. The availability of products and its cost in different sections of the society are affected due to public-private interest disparity.

Furthermore, the State announced insurance coverage of health and reproductive products to continue without any co-pays, co-insurance or deductibles. In addition to this, the new policy would also cover all medically essential abortion services for the U.S. population. This is a much anticipated relief for the general population in the U.S., where around 45% of all pregnancies reported are unintended (CDC, 2009-2013 study data).

Insurance coverage for devices also varies from state to state in the U.S. Few states have low Medicaid reimbursement rates than the cost of the device, while few states provide reimbursement only to those women who have been prescribed such devices. For instance, in California, dispensing of injectable contraceptives is only allowed by clinics, while Alabama, Idaho, and South California do not cover emergency contraceptive pills as part of the Medicaid programs in their respective states. Many such limitations in Medicaid coverage creates disparity in demand for certain contraceptives across regions in the U.S. Efforts to standardize the rule all over the country is expected to benefit the population at large and the overall U.S. contraceptive drugs and devices market.

Preference for modern contraceptive methods

Higher success rate and availability of reimbursement is encouraging women to opt for these methods over contraceptive pills. With increasing consumer awareness and rising accessibility to modern contraceptives methods, demand for these products is expected to increase during the forecast period. As per the United Nation’s 2015 report, 9 out of 10 married or in-union women opt for modern contraceptive methods. Furthermore, gynecologists and sexologists are recommending use of long-acting reversible contraceptives for couples who do not intend to have a child in near future, owing to their high affectivity compared to conventional contraceptives such as oral hormonal pills.