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An Insight into Marketed Products, Patient Forecasts, and Selected Therapeutic Approaches That Are Outside of Current Marketed Areas

Posted on: Friday, 29 June 2007, 09:03 CDT

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c61196) has announced the addition of the new Frost & Sullivan report "U.S. COPD Market - Therapeutic Overview and Patient Outlook" to their offering.

The Frost & Sullivan research service titled U.S. COPD Market: Therapeutic Overview and Patient Outlook provide insight into marketed products, patient forecasts, and selected therapeutic approaches that are outside of current marketed areas. In this research, Frost & Sullivan's expert analysts thoroughly examine the following markets: bronchodilators, anti-inflammatories, combination therapies, and novel therapeutic approaches.

COPD remains one of the Leading Under-diagnosed Diseases

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD is a slow progressing disease, characterized by airflow obstruction, which consists of both chronic bronchitis and emphysema. The disease remains incurable and current treatments are only able to help relieve symptoms and slow the progression of the disease rather than reverse any lung damage. While around 13.6 million Americans have been diagnosed with this disease, it is estimated that an additional 15 million Americans have the disease but remain undiagnosed. This makes COPD one of the leading under-diagnosed diseases in the U.S. According to the National Institute of Health, COPD is currently the fourth-leading cause of death in the U.S. and is expected to ascend to the third position by 2020.

Smoking is the largest contributing factor to the development of COPD. Although the number of adult smokers decreased in the last decade, these numbers seem to have levelled off with the smoking rate staying virtually the same. "Furthermore, with an estimated 45 million current smokers and 45.9 million former smokers in the U.S. the COPD patient population is expected to expand," notes the analyst of this research service. "This could increase the number of people requiring treatment for this disease and subsequently maintain positive revenue growth."

Poor Patient Compliance Restraining Market Growth

One of the major obstacles in the expansion of the U.S. COPD market is the high rate of patient non compliance. COPD is cited as having the fourth-highest rate of patient non compliance. It is estimated that the prescription compliance rate for these patients is under 50 percent, and many experts believe that actual compliance rates are much lower. For example, in The Lung Health Study, it was determined that for bronchodilators, compliance as measured by canister weight was actually 10 percent lower then reported compliance rates. Another study found that compliance rates for patient use of inhaled corticosteroids were as low as 18 percent. Moreover, medications used to treat COPD come with side-effects, which often discourage patients from long-term use of these products. Side-effects for COPD medications are magnified with multiple medications and this amplifies the problem as the typical COPD patient is prescribed several different medications.

Developing drugs that required less frequent dosing could go a long way in addressing compliance concerns. The success of products such as Spiriva and Advair that require less frequent dosing only reconfirms the need for more convenient treatment options. "Going forward, the number of Americans diagnosed with COPD is expected to increase by 34.5 percent from 13.6 million to 18.4 million in 2013," says the analyst. "This increase can be attributed to several factors including the increased growth in the older age segments of the population, the high number of current and former smokers, and an increase in screening for COPD."

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c61196

Source: Business Wire

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