Although the cardiovascular market is very mature and heavily genericized, total sales of drugs for cardiovascular diseases will grow steadily over the next six years, from almost $47bn in 2018 to over $70bn in 2024, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
An analysis of data from GlobalData’s Pharma Intelligence Center reveals that two anticoagulants (Bristol-Myers Squibb’s [BMS’] Eliquis [apixaban]? and Johnson & Johnson [J&J]/Bayer’s Xarelto [rivaroxaban]), a heart failure drug (Novartis’s Entresto [sacubitril/valsartan]), and two drugs for pulmonary arterial hypertension (J&J’s Uptravi [selexipag] and Opsumit [macitentan]) will be the top five major drivers of growth during this period.
Valentina Gburcik, PhD, Director of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disorders at GlobalData, comments: “These five drugs will represent almost 50% of the total cardiovascular market in 2024, with Eliquis and Xarelto alone representing 36%. Cholesterol-lowering drugs were not part of this analysis, as they were considered to be part of the metabolic disorders therapeutic area.”
According to the analyst consensus forecast on GlobalData’s Pharma Intelligence Center, only two pipeline agents in the cardiovascular space – Mesoblast’s Revascor, a stem cell therapy for heart failure, and MyoKardia’s SAR440181, an oral therapy for dilated cardiomyopathy and systolic heart failure – are expected to reach the blockbuster status (sales over $1bn) by 2024.
Revascor is a mesenchymal precursor stem cell therapy that is delivered to damaged areas of the heart. It is currently the most advanced regenerative therapy in development for heart failure. Revascor is in Phase III trials, which are expected to complete within one year. SAR440181 is a myosin activator, a new small molecule entity that is administered orally, and is currently in Phase II trials.
Gburcik concludes: “Even though the cardiovascular market is very mature and difficult to penetrate, this space is replete with unmet needs as most of the cardiovascular conditions are incurable. There still remains a huge opportunity for drug developers to tap into this potentially lucrative market with innovative and ideally disease-modifying therapies.”
