Patent Expiration of Rilutek to Cause Negative Growth in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Treatment Market by 2018, According to a New Study on ASDReports

Wednesday 2 July 2014, Amsterdam

The amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) treatment market value will decline from $64 million in 2013 to $38 million by 2018, at a negative Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10.05%, according to the new report, now available on ASDReports.

The company’s latest report* states that the largest factor in this decline, which will occur over seven major markets (7MM: the US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, and Japan), will be the patent expiration of Rilutek (riluzole), the only approved therapy for ALS.

As a consequence, the new report forecasts that the ALS treatment market in the US is set to suffer a substantial reduction in sales over the forecast period, from $38 million in 2013 to $16 million by 2020, at a negative CAGR of 16.10%.

Kyle Nicholson, PharmD, the reports Analyst covering Neurology, says: “The effect of Rilutek’s patent expiration will be exacerbated by the lack of alternative treatments in the ALS pipeline. Additionally, the recent failure of several previously promising Phase III pipeline compounds has restricted the growth of and interest in the ALS therapeutics market.”

The analyst believes that there is a drastic need for new therapies that can alleviate the symptoms of the disease and stop or reverse its pathology. The unmet needs in ALS are reflected in the limited diversity of the current pipeline, but no dominant theories have emerged to help guide drug development, according to Nicholson.

“There are two pipeline drugs that will supplement Rilutek and off-label therapies. AB Science’s AB-1010, an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor, targets the inflammatory processes that are believed to contribute to the pathogenesis of ALS, while Cytokinetics’ tirasemtiv aims to improve muscle strength through fast-muscle troponin activation. While these medications will provide greater relief of symptoms, they will not be able to reverse the course of the disease,” the analyst concludes.