Endometriosis is a painful, chronic condition that affects an estimated 176 million women and girls across the globe. Despite its prevalence however, The Global Endometriosis market has huge unmet needs. As such, there is plenty of opportunity for profit for current vendors and new entrants to launch effective treatment for endometriosis.
So what’s stalling vendors from cashing in on this incredibly unsaturated market?
The key challenge is the poor safety and efficacy profiles of the existing treatments for endometriosis presently on the market. Currently, generics and off-label therapies are used for the treatment of endometriosis. These treatments provide some symptomatic relief but no absolute cure.
As well, many of the drug therapies currently available may work for some people but can either worsen the condition or cause serious adverse effects in others. Currently, the options for treatment of endometriosis are limited to GnRH agonists, progestins, and androgens, whose long-term use is associated with undesirable side effects such as chronic pelvic pain, breast enlargement/tenderness, infertility, breakthrough bleeding, amenorrhea edema, changes in weight, migraines, mood swings, nausea, depression, hot flashes, changes in cervical erosion, and cervical secretions. With a list of side-effects this long, it’s no wonder that end-users are apprehensive of the treatments being offered by vendors.
Is there any chance of The Global Endometriosis market moving forward in the next few years then? Despite the many hindrances faced by vendors of treatments for the condition, we think yes. In fact, after closely monitoring and analysing the market for the past few years our research team has forecasted a CAGR of 5.86 percent for the 2012-2016 period.
One of the biggest forces behind this growth is the dramatic increase in awareness programs for the treatment of endometriosis. In the past few years, there have been several awareness and educational programs specifically targeting patients with endometriosis and featuring several alternative methods to manage the condition. Considering the number of potential end-users who don’t even realize that they’re currently suffering from endometriosis, such programs are sure to increase market demand.
Additionally, thanks to a number of recent strategic partnerships, the market’s pipeline is much more optimistic. In October 2012, Bayer signed a drug development agreement with Evotec. The deal is a five-year, multi-target partnership that aims to generate three clinical-stage drugs for treating endometriosis. Moreover, Cryo-Cell International has partnered with Cryopraxis Cryobiology. This partnership has allowed Cryopraxis to conduct clinical studies using Cryo-Cell’s proprietary C’elle menstrual stem cell technology to identify potential future diagnostic and therapeutic uses for endometriosis and stress urinary incontinence in women. These are just a few examples of the market’s major pipeline developments, and they are sure to prompt many others.
Ultimately, yes it is going to be a long and hard struggle for vendors to overcome the market’s many hindrances, but these challenges only make the stakes even higher for vendors who eventually succeed in developing a proper treatment of endometriosis. The race for success in The Global Endometriosis market, and we can’t wait to see how it pans out.
For more information, see our 2012-2016 report on the The Global Endometriosis market.
