Drug Store News - Arthritis: direct medical costs reach $51 billion
The latest figures show that roughly 43 million American adults–about 1-in-5–have arthritis diagnosed by a doctor, making it the leading cause of disability in the United States. This number is projected to increase to 67 million by 2030.
Each year, arthritis results in 750,000 hospitalizations and 36 million out-patient visits. Around 9,500 deaths are attributed to arthritis, and direct medical costs amount to more than $51 billion. Another $35 billion in costs result from loss of earnings. About 23 million people are said to live with chronic joint symptoms, but have not been diagnosed by a doctor.
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Leading drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis include Amgen’s Enbrel, Centocor’s Remicade and Abbott’s Humira. According to IMS Health, only 10 percent of diagnosed patients are treated with one of these anti-TNF drugs, so growth within this class of drugs is expected to continue as physicians become more familiar with the drugs. IMS predicts that Enbrel and Humira will especially benefit from growth, as unlike Remicade, they are self-administered.
Sales of Remicade are therefore expected to slow down or decrease by 2010. According to 2005 figures, Enbrel (etanercept) is ranked 11th among the leading U.S. products in terms of sales, achieving sales of $2.7 billion and 36 percent growth. Remicade (infliximab) is ranked 20th, achieving sales of $2.2 billion and 12 percent growth.
Recent COX-2 withdrawals mean they are no longer among the top 10 leading classes of drugs and have thrown the prescription market for drugs to treat osteoarthritis, the more common form, into a tailspin–nothing has really stepped in to pick up the lost COX-2 dollars, suggesting that many people are living in discomfort. Even OTC pain relief has yet to see the lift many suppliers expected in the wake of the COX-2 troubles. In 2005, total sales of Bextra and Celebrex reached $1.76 billion compared with total COX-2 sales of $5.4 billion in 2004, when Vioxx was still on the market. Among traditional NSAIDs, Mobic was the top seller in 2005, achieving sales of $1.94 billion.
Anti-TNF drugs in the pipeline include UCB’s Cimzia (certolizumab pegol), which is expected to be approved for use to treat RA in 2007, and Centocor’s golimumab, which is in phase II trials for RA and has shown good clinical results, according to IMS.
In March this year, Roche received approval for the use of MabThera (Rituxan) in RA patients who fail to respond to anti-TNF therapy. The company has another potential RA drug, Actemra (tocilizumab), in phase HI trials. Also this year, Bristol Myers Squibb launched Orencia (abatacept), a T-cell co-stimulation modulator, for patients who fail to respond to other disease-modifying drugs, including methotrexate. Both Mabthera and Orencia are expected to reach blockbuster levels (in excess of $1 billion) in sales, according to IMS.
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