Neurodegeneration

Drugs to treat the symptoms and effects of neurodegenerative conditions represent a rapidly growing market, at approximately $35 billion. Many of these illnesses are age-related and will have an increased impact over the next twenty years as the elderly population continues to grow.

To date, therapeutic intervention in these diseases has focused on symptomatic treatment such as the cholinesterase inhibitors in Alzheimer’s disease. However, the preferred strategy to combat these diseases is neuroprotection, limiting neurological tissue damage and disease progression. Neuroprotective therapies for central nervous system injury are becoming a primary focus of both pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

As new products are approved and overtake for obsolete symptomatic therapies, the neuroprotection market value will grow significantly and constitute a major and important component of the central nervous system market. Market analysis shows that the market value of these therapies will grow from $5.1 billion in year 2005 to $11.5 billion by 2010.

Indications

Alzheimer's disease

Currently, it is estimated that 4.5 million Americans have AD. In the seven major pharmaceutical markets (United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Japan) there are 16 million AD patients, a number that is expected to grow to 21 million by 2010. It is also the 8th leading cause of death in the United States and once diagnosed, the average life span of an Alzheimer's patient is eight years.

In the United States alone, direct and indirect annual costs of caring for individuals with AD are at least $100 billion, according to estimates used by the Alzheimer's Association and the National Institute on Aging. Sales for Alzheimer's therapies is estimated to increase to more than $7.8 billion by 2010 in the seven major markets.

The Alzheimer's Society of Canada estimates that 420,600 Canadians over 65 have Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, and 280,000 have Alzheimer's disease. The number of people in Canada with dementia is expected to grow by the year 2031 to over 3/4 million people due to the aging population.

Schizophrenia-related cognitive impairment

As many as 60 million people worldwide have schizophrenia, according to various surveys. Most people with schizophrenia also suffer from cognitive impairment, although it is independent of the psychotic symptoms of the illness.

In North America, Datamonitor estimates more than two million people have schizophrenia. In Europe, the European Federation of Associations of Families of People with Mental Illness estimates that 6.6 million people suffer from schizophrenia. While there are sales of $18-billion to treat the psychosis associated with schizophrenia, there are no approved drugs treating this cognitive impairment.

Mild Cognitive Impairment from bypass surgery

Approximately 500,000 patients in the United States and 800,000 patients worldwide undergo coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery every year. The post-CABG MCI market is estimated to be US$500 million annually. Currently there is no therapy available that ameliorates or treats the cognitive damage associated with artery bypass surgery.

Stoke

Every 45 seconds in the United States, someone experiences a stroke. This fact translates into approximately 700,000 new or recurrent strokes in the Unites States each year. It is the second leading cause of mortality in the world after cardiovascular disease, the third leading cause of death in the United States, and is the leading cause of long-term disability. The annual cost of stroke in the U.S. will exceed $58 billion in 2006.

In spite of this failure to provide effective treatments, there remains a significant opportunity and the market is projected to grow to $250 million by 2006 and $415 million by 2010, assuming that new therapies enter the market. It is generally agreed that MCI-CABG is an appropriate surrogate for the potential of a drug to treat strokes.

Neuropathies

More than eight million Americans experience some type of neuropathy, with a large percentage attributed to diabetes. The market for the top three neuropathic medications was approximately $2 billion in 2005.

Traumatic Brain Injury

There are approximately 5.5 million people in the U.S. with TBI and there is an incidence of over 1.7 million cases per year. TBI is the major cause of morbidity in the young adult population in the U.S. The estimates of the economic cost of TBI are over $48 billion with almost $32 billion coming directly from hospital costs.