Big pharma struggles to benefit from increased CVD drug usage in market set to grow to $107 billion in 2018

Pharmaceutical companies will struggle to profit from the cardiovascular disease (CVD) market over the next decade, despite growing drug usage, according to Datamonitor. New research by the independent business analyst predicts that the CVD pharma market will grow from $99 billion in 2008 to $107 billion in 2018.

Patent expiries and generic competition will have a major impact and Datamonitor expects AstraZeneca and Novo Nordisk to emerge as the only major CVD pharma companies to generate positive sales growth over the period.

Drug usage versus sales

The strong growth in CVD drug usage in the developed world will be driven by the increase in patient populations, early diagnosis and early initiation of drug therapy as health care providers target the CVD complications associated with an increasingly obese population.