The market for haemophilia A and B recombinant therapies is set to experience limited growth, rising from $5.4 billion in 2014 to $6.3 billion by 2024, says research and consulting firm GlobalData.
According to the company’s latest report, this increase represents a tepid compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.52 per cent across Argentina and the seven major markets (7MM) of the US, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, the UK, and Japan, a product of high treatment rates and market saturation.
Fenix Leung, DPhil, GlobalData’s analyst covering oncology and hematology, explains, “Despite the availability of new, long-acting products designed to reduce injection frequency, haemophilia patients in the US and five major European countries are satisfied with established recombinant factor products.
“Overall, GlobalData expects modest uptake of long-acting Factor VIII products, while uptake of long-acting factor IX products will be higher owing to the substantial dosing interval increase.”
However, Biogen’s Eloctate and Alprolix are competitively priced, limiting the scope of premium pricing for pipeline long-acting products. Therefore, pricing barriers should render overall market growth slow.
Drivers of haemophilia A and B recombinant therapies include the disease’s growing prevalence and the increasing use of recombinant products and prophylactic regimens.
Leung elaborates, “New patients with severe haemophilia A and B in the 7MM and Argentina, except Germany, receive prophylactic recombinant factors. As these patients are likely to stay on recombinant treatment permanently, recombinant product use should rise, driving market growth."
In Argentina, the market is not as well-established as it is among the 7MM, leaving investment prospects more open. As such, Argentina’s haemophilia treatment market is projected to grow from $119 million in 2014 to $193 million by 2024, representing a greater CAGR of 4.9 per cent.
Leung explains, “Most haemophilia patients in Argentina have access to factor replacement products through private insurance plans or the national social security programme. However, the former are costly, and the latter only covers on-demand treatment and plasma-derived concentrates. Therefore, the number of patients receiving recombinant factor is low, as only 25 per cent and 27 per cent of haemophilia A and B patients, respectively, received recombinant replacement products in 2013.”
Despite low uptake, GlobalData expects that the Argentine market will use recombinant products more, offering opportunities to convert patients currently using plasma-derived products to using recombinant ones. This will make Argentina a lucrative region in the crowded haemophilia treatment space.