An aging population that has created a large pool of patients with eye diseases, changing demographics and an increased focus on combination therapies of drugs is boosting the global ophthalmology drugs and devices market now expected to grow to $52.4 billion by 2017.
In 2010, MarketsandMarkets, which compiled the report, estimated the global ophthalmology drugs and devices market was expected to grow to $36 billion by 2014.
The current projection out to 2017 reverses a decline that the market saw in 2008 and 2009 during the recession. However, the drugs market is expected to grow at a slower pace compared with the devices market. That’s because of the patent cliff and a less-than-robust pipeline of future products.
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But the global market is not expected to grow at the same pace everywhere. Being more mature markets, and also as a result of the economic difficulties, Europe and North America will grow at a slower pace. That compares with rapid growth expected in the Asia Pacific region led by demand from India and China.
The biggest players in the devices market are Abbott Medical Optics, Alcon and Bausch & Lomb, while in the ophthalmology drugs market they are Merck, Pfizer and Roche.
