Drug delivery products market in US to reach $ 251 bn by 2019

Demand for drug delivery products in the US is projected to increase 6.1 percent annually to $251 billion in 2019 from $ 187 billion in 2014, according to a Freedonia Group report. “Specialised dosage formulations that improve therapies for autoimmune, cancer, cardiovascular, neurological, viral, and other debilitating disorders will lead gains.  Included in this group are human and humanised monoclonal antibodies, polymer-encapsulated medicines, and brachytherapy seeds,” said the report.
 
Among drug delivery devices, pen injectors and retractable prefillable syringes are expected to record the fastest growth based on safety, infection prevention, and ease-of-use advantages.
 
Demand for oral drug delivery products is forecast to rise 4 percent annually to over $130 billion in 2019. Because of bioavailability and reduced dosing advantages, controlled-release formulations will continue to dominate revenues. On the downside, patent expirations and generic competition will soften overall growth prospects for this product segment.
 
The market for parenteral drug delivery products is projected to rise over 10 percent annually to $86.5 billion in 2019. Advances in monoclonal antibodies and polymer-encapsulated medicines will underlie growth. “The use of new and existing therapies based on human and humanised monoclonal antibodies will improve the effectiveness of therapies against various forms of cancer as well as against other debilitating disorders, such as allergy-linked asthma, Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, and wet age-related macular degeneration,” said Bill Martineau, analyst, Freedonia.
 
Enhanced bioavailability and reduced toxicity advantages will boost applications for polymer-enhanced medicines in the treatment of such conditions as cancer complications, hepatitis B and C, and multiple sclerosis. Prefillable syringes will account for the largest and fastest growth among parenteral devices over the long term. Improvements in safety features such as retracting needles, along with overall infection prevention and response time advantages, will underlie growth. Prefillable syringes will also broaden self-use applications based on advances in pen injectors.