Emerging oral atypical antipsychotics will garner only limited uptake in schizophrenia market

In the world's major pharmaceutical markets, emerging oral atypical antipsychotics will compete against each other and against established drugs for the same niche patient population in the treatment of schizophrenia, notes USA-based research and advisory firm Decision Resources.

Its Pharmacor 2010 report titled Schizophrenia reveals that emerging oral atypical antipsychotics such as Merck's Saphris/Sycrest (asenapine), Novartis/Vanda Pharmaceuticals' Fanapt (iloperidone) Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma's lurasidone and Forest/Gedeon Richter/Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma's cariprazine are expected to garner only limited uptake, owing to the increasingly crowded schizophrenia drug market, as well as competition from established atypical antipsychotics. Most notably, emerging oral atypical antipsychotics will face strong competition from Bristol-Myers Squibb/Otsuka Pharmaceuticals' Abilify (aripiprazole) and the impending market launches of generics over the next several years.

"Current branded antipsychotics have established themselves in particular niche populations within the schizophrenia market," said Decision Resources analyst Sandra Chow, adding: "Multiple new antipsychotics will compete for the same niches of patients as agents with more tolerable weight-gain and side-effect profiles."