Pharmaceutical development opportunities surrounding osteoporosis

E Sussex, UK 15th January 2003 --- New LeadDiscovery Dossier. An estimated 10 million Americans over the age of 50 years old suffer from osteoporosis and a further 32.9 million have low bone mass, placing them at an increased risk for developing this condition. Osteoporosis is blamed for more than 1.5 million fractures in the US each year. One in two women and one in eight men over 50 years of age will suffer an osteoporosis-related fracture during their lifetime. The direct medical cost for treating such fractures was estimated at $16.8 billion in 2001, up from around $13.8 billion in 1995. Assuming the current trends in disease prevalence continue, the total osteopenic and osteoporotic population in the US is projected to grow by 43.1 percent to 61.4 million in 2020, of which osteoporosis patients will account for 13.8 million and those with low bone mass for the remaining 47.5 million. Given the growth in the elderly population and resultant increase in potential osteoporosis patients projected for the next thirty years, the cost of osteoporosis and the demands being placed on the public health care system may be devastating. For pharmaceutical companies, the opportunities in the market translate to potentially huge revenues. The osteoporosis market is still largely untapped, with only about a third of osteoporotic patients being diagnosed and treated for their condition. The US osteoporosis therapies market, including estrogen replacement therapy drugs, generated approximately $3.9 billion in 2001; the global market was estimated at $5.5 billion and projected to double by 2008. This report offers a full analysis of the osteoporosis arena incorporating an introduction to the disease, its epidemiology, pathophysiology and treatment options; an analysis of drugs in development or on the market for osteoporosis as well as trends in this development activity; and an analysis of the activities in this field of corporate field-leaders and of companies emerging into this arena. In short this report represents a key tool for companies wishing to enter into or expand in the osteoporosis market. The reader will be left with a clear idea of therapeutic targets currently being developed for the treatment of osteoporosis, who is responsible for this development and the competition that companies will face on both a pharmacological and a corporate basis.

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