Decision Resources: Atrial fibrillation treatments will expand market size to $7 billion

WALTHAM, Mass. Launch and use of new heart drugs will drive the market for drugs to treat atrial fibrillation and increase its size to nearly $7 billion in less than a decade, according to a new report from market analysis firm Decision Resources.

The report found that new drugs from Boehringer Ingelheim, Sanofi-Aventis and partnerships between Bayer and Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb –– specifically anticoagulant and antiarrhythmic drugs –– will drive most of the atrial fibrillation drug market in developed countries and increase it more than eight-fold, from $843 million in 2009 to $6.8 billion in 2019.

The drugs cited include Boehringer Ingelheim’s Pradaxa (dabigatran etexilate), Sanofi-Aventis’ Multaq (dronedarone), apixan, by Bristol and Pfizer, and Xarelto (rivaroxaban), by Bayer and J&J. These drugs are expected to drive three-quarters of the market in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Japan.

The report found that while Multaq would face challenges due to competition from another Sanofi drug, Cordarone (amiodarone), which also is available as a generic, it would likely have sales of more than $650 million in 2019.