Decision Resources: Generic competition will crush hypertension drug market

BURLINGTON, Mass. The market for hypertension drugs will drop by $3 billion by the end of the decade due to generic competition, according to a new report by healthcare market research firm Decision Resources.

The report, announced Tuesday, found that the market for drugs to treat high blood pressure would decline from 2009’s $26 billion to $23 billion by 2019 in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain and Japan.

The largest decline will hit Novartis’ Diovan (valsartan), which will lose more than $1 billion in sales in 2013, following market entry of generic versions of the drug.

“Emerging agents will find it difficult to penetrate the highly genericized hypertension market because of competition from inexpensive and efficacious generic anti-hypertensive drugs,” Decision Resources analyst Taskin Ahmed said. “Through 2019, we do not forecast blockbuster sales for any of the emerging anti-hypertensive agents.”