Rilutek patent expiry to cause negative growth in ALS treatment market by 2018

The amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) treatment market value will decline from $64 million in 2013 to $38 million by 2018, at a negative compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.05%.

According to a new report from research and consulting firm GlobalData, the largest factor in this decline, which will occur over seven major markets (7MM: the USA, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, and Japan), will be the patent expiration of French drug major Sanofi’s (Euronext: SAN) Rilutek (riluzole), the only approved therapy for ALS.

As a consequence, GlobalData forecasts that the ALS treatment market in the USA is set to suffer a substantial reduction in sales over the forecast period, from $38 million in 2013 to $16 million by 2020, at a negative CAGR of 16.10%.