23 August 2007
Takeda's Blopress to be Leading Cardiovascular Drug By 2011
Global cardiovascular market will grow to $116.3bn by 2010
Takeda’s Blopress®, also marketed as Astra Zeneca’s Atacand® is tipped to be the leading cardiovascular drug over the five year period to 2011.
Blopress, also known as Candesartan cilexetil, is an antihypertensive drug that was discovered and originally synthesised by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Japan's biggest drugmaker, and then jointly developed with AstraZeneca.
The drug’s sales success comes as a result of the drug being granted approval to treat chronic heart failure in Japan. Japanese regulators have approved the drug in the treatment of chronic heart failure making Blopress the first angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) to be approved in CHF in all of the major pharmaceutical markets - Japan, the US and Europe.
The Japanese company said earlier this year that it is committed to enhancing its cardiovascular franchise by launching investigational compounds such as TAK-475 for hypercholesterolemia, and TAK-491 for hypertension.
A Takeda spokeperson said earlier this year, “In Japan, brisk sales of Blopress and Takepron helped us to absorb the official cut in the prescription drug price and the challenge posed by generic drug makers.”
Cardiovascular drugs have been known to bring in the spoils. Cardiovascular Market Trends 2007-2010 finds that of the top 20 products by global cardiovascular sales in 2005, all 20 generated annual sales in excess of US$1 billion.
Author of the report Steve Seget says, “The top 20 products in 2005 contributed sales of US$59.3 billion accounting for 66.1% of the total cardiovascular market.”
Cardiovascular Market Growth
Historically, the cardiovascular market has provided the largest single source of revenue for the pharmaceutical industry. The World Health Organisation finds that physical inactivity and unhealthy diet are the primary risk factors which increase individual risks to cardiovascular diseases Driven on by global trends like obesity, rising smoking, diabetes and high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease claims almost 900,000 lives each year in the United States alone.
URCH’s report predicts that the global cardiovascular market will grow to $116.3 billion by 2010, equivalent to a CAGR of 5.3% over the next five years. It finds that finds that the global market for cardiovascular patients will increase to 251 million in 2010, with the greatest rate of growth forecast for the U.S market.
Analysts say that the slow-down in cardiovascular market growth visible in the two-year gap between 2003 and 2005 is forecast to continue through to 2010. They point out that even though market growth will be driven by changes in demographics and lifestyle habits, there will be clear limitations on sales from continued patent expiries for major products. Additionally, company pipelines in the area appear to be woefully empty.
Cardiovascular Market Dominated By Anti-Hypertensives
Anti-hypertensives, which are a class of drugs used in medicine and pharmacology to lower hypertension or high blood pressure, dominate the global cardiovascular market with a market share of nearly 50%. The mechanisms of action in these drugs can vary greatly.
It is expected that the growth of this class of drugs will be spurred on partly by the increased use of ARBs, like Blopress and their combinations. However, since many of the bestselling drugs in this category are due for patent expiry, industry experts believe that over long term there will be a maturing of the market for this drug class.
