The Fibromyalgia Drug Market Will Experience Minimal Growth over the Next Decade

BURLINGTON, Mass., Sep 29, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that, owing to the generic erosion of two key agents--Eli Lilly/Boehringer Ingelheim's Cymbalta (duloxetine) and Pfizer's Lyrica (pregabalin)--the fibromyalgia drug market will experience minimal growth over the next decade, increasing from nearly $1.6 billion in 2010 to less than $1.8 billion in 2020 in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Japan.

The findings from the Pharmacor topic entitled Fibromyalgia reveal that, through 2020, an expanding drug-treated population and, to a lesser extent, the uptake of Forest Laboratories/Cypress Bioscience's Savella (milnacipran), Johnson & Johnson/Grunenthal's Nucynta ER (tapentadol ER) and Pfizer's controlled-release formulation of Lyrica (pregabalin CR), will help to offset sales lost to the generic erosion of Cymbalta and Lyrica. Additionally, as awareness and acceptance of fibromyalgia among physicians and the general population increases, the diagnosed and drug-treated population will grow by 1.7 million from 2010 to 2020.

In 2010, Cymbalta unseated Lyrica as the U.S. patient- and market-share leader. According to interviewed experts, Lyrica's side effects, in particular its CNS side effects and weight gain side effect have significantly curbed the use of this agent in the fibromyalgia population.

The findings also reveal that the U.S. accounted for nearly 80 percent of major-market fibromyalgia sales in 2010, and in 2020 the U.S. will account for two-thirds of worldwide sales for the indication. The majority of U.S. sales continue to be driven by the leading fibromyalgia-approved therapies--Cymbalta, Lyrica and Savella. In Europe and Japan, market expansion will be constrained by a dearth of approved therapies, lower diagnosis rates and less widespread recognition of the disorder.

Because fibromyalgia is a difficult condition to treat--its symptoms vary widely from patient to patient and can include pain, depression, fatigue and sleep dysfunction--significant unmet need remains for effective treatments.

"Even the leading, FDA-approved drugs for fibromyalgia have limited efficacy and tolerability," said Decision Resources Analyst Andrea Buurma. "As a result, ample opportunity remains in this patient population for therapies that can demonstrate efficacy while also offering acceptable safety profiles."source