Is the diabetes market facing a blockbuster-free future?

Japanese drug major Takeda’s (TYO: 4502) recently announced positive late-stage results for new type 2 diabetes drug, fasiglifam, has prompted excitement within the industry and raised hopes of reviving Takeda’s diabetes treatment business, following last year’s patent expiration of hit product Actos (pioglitazone). But as drugs continue to improve without the addressing the biggest unmet needs of the current therapy landscape, an analyst with research and consulting firm GlobalData asks, are we entering an era without blockbuster diabetes drugs?

Valentina Gburcik, cardiovascular and metabolic disorders analyst for GlobalData, argues that, while Takeda’s new drug shows promise, the lack of treatments tackling the condition’s root cause may result in the underwhelming market performance of individual drugs.

“We are entering an era in the diabetes market where the first-in-class drugs start in many ways to resemble ‘me-too’ drugs, despite their novel mechanisms of action. With some of the diabetes drugs going off patent, the prospect for future diabetes blockbusters becomes even bleaker due to eventual generic competition to the former blockbusters, and consequently, even more pronounced cost-effectiveness issues,” says Dr Gburcik.