Nearly 50 new medicines are projected to be launched each year by 2020, a new report from the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics says. As such, a number of new drug brands will be available on the market. The majority, unsurprisingly, will be designed to treat cancer.
This will lead to a $282 billion increase in the spend on branded medication by 2020, with $91 billion stemming from new medicine launches in the next five years, the report projects.
Based on today’s late stage trials, IMS was able to piece together an infographic stemming from its report on medication pricing. It found that the 2015 late phase pipeline includes 2,320 novel products. And of more than 630 distinct research programs in Phase 2 or later trials, 37 percent are in the specialty market.
About a quarter of the pipeline is cancer meds, and a quarter of that is indicated for blood cancers. The majority of late stage cancer trials are in Phase 2 at present, but a small sliver’s already registered.
Pain, Alzheimer’s disease and epilepsy are the most common indications in the neurological pipeline. And recently approved diagnostics for Alzheimer’s disease are improving clinical trial design efficacy – resulting in an increase of Alzheimer’s therapies entering the pipeline.
Some other standouts in neurology: Three products are competing to be the first approved therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Also, the first orphan-designated cannabinoid product is in Phase 3 trials for pediatric epilepsy.
