Antiretroviral Drug Market To Increase to $10.6B by 2015, Report Says

The market for antiretroviral drugs is expected to increase from $7.1 billion in 2005 to $10.6 billion by 2015, as new antiretrovirals are launched and the number of HIV-positive people increases, according to a report released on Thursday by the market research company Datamonitor, Reuters reports. The report found that the market for antiretrovirals is expected to undergo significant changes in the next decade as new drugs and next-generation versions of older drugs are developed. In addition, the report found that new antiretrovirals will offer treatment for HIV-positive people who have not responded to treatment with existing drugs. "Advances in antiretroviral therapy have turned HIV from a universally feared death sentence into a chronic disease with an average life expectancy similar to that of type 2 diabetes," Mansi Shah, a Datamonitor analyst, said, adding, "Because of this, attitudes towards HIV have become relatively blasé amongst some groups." According to Reuters, pharmaceutical companies are under pressure to decrease prices of antiretrovirals in developing countries, but antiretrovirals are a "lucrative and fast-growing" business in Western countries. An increase in antiretroviral drug sales should benefit pharmaceutical companies that have "promising new products," including Merck, Pfizer, Gilead and Johnson & Johnson, Reuters reports (Hirschler, Reuters, 4/12).