Asthma drug market set to grow $23 billion by 2023

The asthma treatment market value will grow across eight major countries (the USA, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan, and Australia) to $23.1 billion by 2023, according to the PharmaPoint: Asthma - Global Drug Forecast and Market Analysis.

The main driver of the enormous expansion of the asthma market will be the uptake of novel targeted biologic agents and once-daily ICS and ICS/LABA therapies in the next-generation inhalers. The major global barrier for the asthma market will be the generic erosion of the leading brands for asthma treatment, such as GlaxoSmithKline’s (LSE: GSK) Advair (fluticasone propionate/salmeterol) and AstraZeneca’s (LSE: AZN) Symbicort (budesonide/formoterol fumarate).

Companies are trying to penetrate or dominate the asthma market using two main approaches: 1) developing drugs with different delivery devices to capitalize on long-established off-patent therapies; 2) introducing biologics, in particular, interleukin inhibitors, to treat severe uncontrolled asthma. The largest unmet needs mainly reflect the high level of heterogeneity of the disease, the lack of patient compliance with the standard therapies, and the high cost of medications for asthma treatment. In addition, there is a lack of diagnostic tools to provide a reliable diagnosis of asthma in young children.