There Is Increasing Demand For New Medicines For Drug-Resistant Infections In The Pharmaceutical Drugs Market

12 Aug, 2019

The need for new drug candidates for antimicrobial resistant infections is increasing. Antimicrobial resistance is a serious concern to global public health as it results in long duration of illness, the requirement of additional tests, and use of more expensive drugs and in worse outcomes from treatment. Antimicrobial resistance occurs when microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi change and adapt to drugs when they are exposed to antimicrobial drugs such as antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, anthelmintics and others. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), globally 480,000 people are developing multi-drug resistant TB each year and drug resistance is starting to complicate the treatment of malaria and HIV as well. Companies are investing in developing new drug candidates to treat drug-resistant infections. For instance, in 2014, Cubist Pharmaceuticals launched a new antibiotic Zerbaxa (ceftolozane/tazobactam) for complicated intra-abdominal infections, complicated urinary tract infections and also for infections of the kidney (pyelonephritis). Again, Johnson & Johnson launched Sirturo (bedaquiline) for pulmonary multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. In November 2013, Roche and Polyphor Ltd entered into a licensing agreement to develop and commercialize Polyphor’s investigational macrocycle antibiotic, POL7080, for the treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterial infections which become resistant to many antibiotic treatments.

The global pharmaceutical drugs market, valued at $988 billion in 2018, will grow to about $1,170 billion by 2021, at an annual growth rate of 5.78%. The market is driven by changes in lifestyle and the introduction of new methods for drug discovery.

Changes in lifestyles and increases in sedentary jobs are transforming the disease profile of the world population from communicable disease to non-communicable disease such as cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. For example, China and India together had about 154 million diabetic patients in 2014 and India is expected to have about 100 million diabetic patients by 2030, thereby increasing the need for drugs for diabetic patients.

Stem cells and organ on chip technologies are changing the way drug trials are being conducted. Organ on chips are micro-engineered biometric systems that simulates activities, mechanics and physiological response of organ systems. Drug trial processes such as target identification, validation, target based screening and phenotypic screening are being done through organ on chip and stem cell technologies. These technologies are considerably reducing the drug discovery costs and generating reliable predictions on drug efficiency and human safety. Therefore, low drug discovery costs and accurate results generated from these technologies are expected to drive the pharmaceutical drugs market.