Global glaucoma therapeutics market was worth $3.9 billion

The global glaucoma market is predicted to witness major revenue depletion over the next few years due to a string of patent expiries, notes a new report from GobalData. At present, Pfizer’s Xalatan (latanoprost) is the most prescribed drug for the treatment of glaucoma.

The authors' analysis suggests that the global glaucoma therapeutics market was worth $3.9 billion in 2009. However, this is forecast to decline with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.7%, which is mostly due to the patent expirations of branded drugs. The market will be flooded with generic version of these branded drugs, which could impact the glaucoma therapeutics market.

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The glaucoma market will be subjected to generic erosion, which could impact overall market revenues despite the increase in disease prevalence and treatment seeking rates. The interesting fact to note is that products which are expected to enter the market are either “me-toos” or product extensions, which will not bring about any significant improvements in terms of safety and efficacy. Therefore, the only factor which could drive the market would be the cost of the product.

As a result, generics are predicted to govern the market for glaucoma drugs over the next few years. The CAGR for 2001 to 2009 was 1.7% and is expected to nose dive to a negative CAGR of -4.7% between 2009 and 2017 because of the possible impact of generics entering the market.