Study: Asthma medication sales to gradually decline

WALTHAM, Mass. The pharmaceutical and healthcare research and advisory firm Decision Resources has found that increased competition, generic price erosion and cost consciousness will control growth in the asthma drug market as sales will decline from $10.9 billion in 2007 to $10.1 billion in 2017 in the world's major pharmaceutical markets.

The new Pharmacor report, titled Asthma, finds that although sales will decline over the next decade in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom and Japan, the launch of several new long-acting beta-agonist/inhaled corticosteroid combinations will drive growth in this class. However, none of these new therapies, which are set to launch by 2017, will overtake the current market leader in this class, GlaxoSmithKline's Advair.

The report also finds that although the asthma market is filled with many safe and effective drugs, pharmaceutical companies continue to develop new therapies to maximize their earning potential in this lucrative market.

“Asthma therapies that are emerging over the next 10 years in the U.S., European, and/or Japanese markets that offer improved convenience will capture market share but will still not surpass sales of Advair,” said Amy Whiting, analyst at Decision Resources. “Other key players will rely on competitive pricing, incremental gains in safety or improved efficacy to differentiate themselves from competitors.”