September 18, 2013 — Decision Resources forecasts that Bayer/Janssen's Xarelto will be the sales-leading therapy among the novel oral anticoagulants in the combined venous thromboembolism (VTE) markets. Xarelto benefits from its first-to-market advantage for VTE treatment/secondary prophylaxis, the removal of the need for bridging with a low-molecular-weight heparin in the VTE treatment/secondary prophylaxis setting and once-daily dosing. Bristol-Myers Squibb/Pfizer's Eliquis will be Xarelto's closest competitor, but its later launch in both the VTE primary prophylaxis and VTE treatment/secondary prophylaxis markets, as well as its twice-daily dosing, will likely limit its sales relative to Xarelto during the 2012 to 2022 forecast period.
The Pharmacor advisory service entitled Venous Thromboembolism forecasts that the combined markets for drugs used for both VTE primary prophylaxis and VTE treatment/secondary prophylaxis will grow to $7.3 billion in 2022 in the United States, France, Germany, Italy,Spain, United Kingdom and Japan.
The novel oral anticoagulants are forecast to continue to gain market share at the expense of low-molecular-weight heparins (LMWHs) for VTE prevention following orthopedic surgery. Uptake is higher in Europe where a greater number of novel oral anticoagulants are available for this indication. However, despite this increased uptake, the LMWHs remain the overall market leader in the major markets covered in the report; along with vitamin K antagonists (VKAs), LMWHs continue to dominate the VTE/secondary prophylaxis market, where Xarelto is the only novel oral anticoagulant to have gained approval.
The report also finds that while the failure of the novel oral anticoagulants investigated in clinical trials for VTE primary prophylaxis in the medically ill will limit the growth potential of the VTE market, the overall market will benefit from increased physician awareness of the need for VTE primary prophylaxis following non-orthopedic surgery. However, the main growth driver for the VTE market will be the anticipated launches of the novel oral anticoagulants for VTE treatment/secondary prophylaxis, as their use at the expense of VKAs will mark a paradigm shift in standard treatment practices during the forecast period.
"The anticipated launches of Eliquis, Boehringer Ingelheim's Pradaxa and Daiichi Sankyo's Lixiana for VTE treatment/secondary prophylaxis, along with the previously-approved Xarelto will drive growth of the VTE market through 2022," said Decision Resources Analyst Eamonn O'Connor, Ph.D. "Growth opportunities for these agents will be restricted to the treatment/secondary prophylaxis market, owing to these agents' inability, to date, to gain a primary prophylaxis label outside of the orthopedic surgery setting."
For more information: www.decisionresources.com