Diabetic retinopathy population will quadruple by 2012

Decision Resources, Inc., one of the world's leading research and advisory firms focusing on pharmaceutical and health care issues, finds that the drug-treated diabetic retinopathy population will quadruple by 2012.

"The availability of effective surgical treatments coupled with the near total lack of effective pharmacotherapy for diabetic retinopathy has kept drug-treated rates--and thus pharmaceutical sales for this disease, exceedingly low," said Kat Neumeyer, analyst at Decision Resources. "However, the launch of novel drug therapies will prompt dramatic increases in the drug-treated population, which will nearly quadruple in the major pharmaceutical markets (United States, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom)."

According to the new Pharmacor study entitled Diabetic Retinopathy, launches of novel drug therapies such as corticosteroid implants, oral PKCß inhibitors, somatostatin analogues, and VEGF antagonists will fuel the meteoric rise of retinopathy sales from just under $45 million in 2002 to nearly $700 million in 2012.

Diabetic retinopathy affects an estimated 5.6 million diagnosed diabetics and is the leading cause of new blindness among adults aged 20-74. The launches of novel drug therapies for diabetic retinopathy, an indication currently managed only with surgical treatments, would revolutionize treatment and dramatically expand the diabetic retinopathy market.