A tale of two markets: Obesity and type 2 diabetes sectors closely linked but vastly different in outlook

11 March 2010

Rising obesity levels across the western world could result in a near doubling of the type 2 diabetes drug market by 2018, according to Datamonitor. The independent business analyst forecasts that the antidiabetics market will be worth $37 billion by 2018 up from $20 billion in 2008.

This rapid market expansion presents significant opportunities for pharmaceutical companies who are able to develop new therapies to address the unmet clinical needs in type 2 diabetes. In contrast, Datamonitor expects opportunities in the obesity market to be extremely limited.

Nick Karachalias, lead health care analyst at Datamonitor, comments: 'Safety scares, such as that with Avandia (rosiglitazone; GlaxoSmithKline) in 2007, coupled with re-evaluation of known side effects and the risk of hypoglycemia associated with sulfonylurea use have all combined to highlight the need for new therapies with clean side effect profiles for type 2 diabetes.'

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