Bipolar Today

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GlobalData has released a report with major projections for the bipolar pharmaceutical market until the year 2018. On the whole, the market is expected to slow over the next eight years, because of a number of factors. First, the market had a great deal of growth from 2005 to 2011, because of the approval of the drugs aripiprazole, ziprasidone, lamotrigine, risperidone, quetiapine, Symbyax and olanzapine for the treatment of bipolar disorder in the early 2000s. In contrast, only three new medications are in the pipeline for approval, likely in 2013: cariprazine, armodafinil and lurasidone hydrochloride. In addition, olanzipine, quetiapine and ziprazidone will all become generic by 2012 and aripiprazone will become generic in 2015. Overall then, expected growth of the industry is only 2% per year over the next eight years, from $6.2 billion to $7.3 billion, a significant slowing down.

Commentary

I find it very interesting to read about bipolar disorder medications from a purely economic perspective because it reminds us that there is a lot of money at stake in our treatment. Even the report costs $10,500 for a corporate license. I don’t have any trouble with companies profiting from developing treatments that can help improve our lives, but with the amount of money involved, there can be some problems with the ethics of trials (like a cariprazine trial that I covered a few weeks ago) and with companies marketing their medications for off-label uses.

Overall, it looks like the huge amount of heating up of the market in the last five or six years will be cooling off, hopefully leading to less pressure to prescribe these medications, especially as they become generic. The new medications will need to compete against far less expensive generic antipsychotics, so they should be less influential. With less heavy marketing of antipsychotics, I wouldn’t be surprised (though I am not a physician) if we see less prescription of antipsychotics and more of mood stabilizers over the next few years.

Related posts:

1. Generic Version of Olanzapine Approved By FDA
2. Mylan and Teva Now Producing Generic Quetiapine (Seroquel)
3. Growth of Prescription Drug Costs Slowest in Twenty Years
4. Twelve States Sue Johnson & Johnson Over Risperdal
5. Inspector Says Antipsychotics Overused for Dementia in the Elderly