Obesity Therapy Market to Reach $8.4 billion by 2022

Tuesday 25 February 2014, Amsterdam

Due to the launches of several novel drugs during the next decade, the obesity market will increase from $407m in 2012 to $8.4 billion by 2022, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 35.3%, forecasts research and consulting firm GlobalData.

The company’s latest report states that the US, Canada and Japan will have the largest obesity therapy sales by 2022, with shares of $5.3 billion, $702m and $484m, respectively.  

Rebecca Wong, MSc, GlobalData’s Analyst covering Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disorders, says: “The obesity space has seen little activity in the past decade due to a pharmacological history of modest efficacy, poor tolerability with dangerous side effects, and limited healthcare coverage, which have all contributed to the commercial failure of anti-obesity drugs.  

“Recently, however, there has been a revival of this market space, as a couple of companies have released drugs that challenge these limitations.”

According to GlobalData, the two drugs that will have the greatest impact on the size of the market are Victoza and Belviq.  

Victoza’s advantage, in addition to its efficacy, lies largely in the fact that it is marketed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes by Novo Nordisk. Belviq’s advantage lies in its novelty; unlike Vivus’ Qsymia and the two drugs being developed by Orexigen, it is a novel molecular entity, rather than a combination of existing therapeutic options.

“With the changing tide of opinion on the treatment of obesity and the upcoming launches of new drugs and devices, we anticipate that the prescribing of obesity therapies will increase over the next 10 years, boosting the market size,” Wong says.

Still, there is a lack of reimbursement for obesity drugs in the US and public health systems throughout the rest of the world, which could hinder any further market growth.