Challenges of the European Market for Respiratory Disease Drugs

At the moment, primarily combination drugs drive the market, with top brands facing no real competition from generic alternatives. However, the research and development pipelines of major participants in the respiratory drugs market are not very promising, restraining market expansion. Capitalizing and maximizing the potential of current combination drugs is what the future holds in store for European respiratory therapeutics, which should gain significant momentum and impel market growth in Europe.

"Though the European market has limited generic competition, it is essential to maximize on revenues generated by top-selling drugs before their patents expire,” said Sylvia Miriyam Findlay, a research analyst with Frost & Sullivan (Palo Alto, CA, USA), an international consulting firm that prepared the report. "Effective life-cycle management including product line extensions to cover other respiratory illnesses will be the best way to gain competitive advantage.”

In addition to effective life cycle management, pharmaceutical companies need to increase their investments in R&D and develop more efficient and cost-effective drugs that support improved disease management. At the same time, market expansion will be driven by the uptake of more efficacious drug delivery techniques that promote improved treatment regimes in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. The emergence of affordable, innovative, and effective inhalers and product solutions will provide further impetus to market growth.

Frost & Sullivan estimates that the European respiratory diseases market earned revenues of $5.84 billion in 2005 and estimates this to reach $10.43 billion in 2012.



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