Novel oral anticoagulants to drive venous thromboembolism drug market to $5 billion in 2018

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that the launches and widespread uptake of novel oral anticoagulants will drive the venous thromboembolism drug market to nearly double from $2.9 billion in 2008 to more than $5 billion in 2018 in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Japan.

The Pharmacor 2010 findings from the topic entitled Venous Thromboembolism reveal that the dominance that low-molecular-weight heparins have held in the venous thromboembolism drug market will be severely reduced over the next decade, following the introduction and deep market penetration of several novel oral agents. Sales of the leading low-molecular-weight heparin, Sanofi-Aventis's Lovenox, will also be affected by the launch of generic versions of the drug, beginning in 2010.

Until recently, vitamin K antagonists such as warfarin (Bristol-Myers Squibb's Coumadin, generics) were the only oral anticoagulants available. The novel oral agents that are expected to launch through 2018 will offer significant advantages over this class of drugs. Most notably, Bayer/Ortho-McNeil's Xarelto, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Pfizer's apixaban and Boehringer Ingelheim's Pradaxa will not require patient monitoring or dose adjustment.

"The most successful novel anticoagulant will be Xarelto, owing to its broad development strategy across multiple venous thromboembolism indications," said Decision Resources Analyst Matthew Killeen, Ph.D. "Additionally, Xarelto, apixaban and Pradaxa have a wide therapeutic index, a more-predictable dose-response profile and they lack major drug-drug interactions, an inherent characteristic of therapy with vitamin K antagonists."