Generic erosion to weigh on unipolar depression drug market

Owing to the generic erosion of blockbuster agents, the unipolar depression drug market - which includes sales of products attributed to major depressive disorder, minor depression and dysthymia - will decrease from $11.6 billion in 2010 to $9.8 billion in 2020 in the major makers of the USA, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and Japan, says a new report from advisory firm Decision Resources.

The findings from the Pharmacor topic, titled Unipolar Depression, reveal that negative market growth over the next decade will be largely due to two blockbuster antidepressants losing market exclusivity in the USA: escitalopram (Lundbeck’s Cipralex/Seroplex, Forest Laboratories’ Lexapro) in 2012, and duloxetine (Eli Lilly/Boehringer Ingelheim’s Cymbalta/Xeristar) in 2013. In addition, the market is still reacting to the rapid generic erosion of venlafaxine XR (Pfizer’s Effexor), which lost market exclusivity in the USA in 2010.

The findings also reveal that Bristol-Myers Squibb/Otsuka’s Abilify (aripiprazole) and AstraZeneca’s Seroquel (quetiapine) continue to gain patient share as adjunctive major depressive disorder treatments, which will contribute to the stability of the unipolar depression market in the near term. Additionally, only one emerging therapy, AstraZeneca/Targacept’s TC-5214 has the potential to demonstrate an advantage in tolerability over other agents approved for adjunctive treatment of major depressive disorder.