Current Trends That Affecte The Pharmaceutical Industry
More than one third of the adult population in the Us is considered to be obese (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Because of this, according to the Los Angeles Times, the FDA has approved the first weight-loss drugs since 1999. Qsymia, a weight-loss drug is growing in popularity since 2012. The drug is supposed to help people lose 6.7% of their body fat during the course of a year. Tagging along to the obesity trend, companies such as Novo Nordisk (lead insuline provider) have taken advantage of the situation and have created multiple insuline drugs to treat type 2 diabetes. Moreover, high blood pressure drugs such as Norvasc are being used to treat one of the most common side effects caused by obesity. So, how exactly does this trend affect the business side of the pharmaceutical industry? According to News Medical, higher obesity rates could cause nationwide increases in health care costs by 2030. This is having a huge impact on different companies as they create different drugs to treat obesity side effects.
On a different note, pharmaceutical companies have also been creating many different antidepressant drugs. According to the FDA, the most common antidepressant drugs in 2012 were Prozac and Symbyax. In the past 20 years, Americans have become the most popular user of antidepressants around the world. Moreover, this has made "them one of the most costly and the third most commonly prescribed class of medications in the U. S". Examples of these medications include Prozac and Symbalta. However, recent studies have shown that there has been a significan increase in over-the-counter antidepressant drugs. More and more companies are taking advantage of the growing need for these medications.
These are just a couple of current trends that are affecting the Pharmaceutical Industry. The demand for weight-loss drugs is increasing, as well as diabetes. And a higher need for over-the-counter antidepressant medication is occurring. In order to fit the public's need, pharmaceutical industries have to keep up with current trends.
http://www.news-medical.net/news/20120920/Report-Obesity-rates-will-continue-to-grow-causing-increases-in-health-care-costs-disease-incidence.aspx
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/drugsatfda/index.cfm?fuseaction=Reports.MonthlyApprovalsAll
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jun/27/science/la-sci-obesity-drug-20120628
Thank you for the post Jimena I found it fascinating that 1/3 of America is considered obese, which as you said means a very large target population for weight reduction drugs. I also did not know that no weight loss drugs had been allowed since 1999 and only now is the FDA again allowing them to be sold again. This will, as you said, have a huge effect on the industry as depending on the success and price of the drug it could become very commonly used and become a billion dollar industry. I was also unaware that America is the number one use of anti-depressants around the world. This is something I had never considered before. Thank you for the post.
ReplyDeleteHi Jimena,
ReplyDeleteInteresting post! Obesity is definitely a leading (if not the lead) consumer trend in the pharmaceutical industry. For future blogs, I want to see more analysis. For example, since obesity can help pharmaceutical companies bring in more profit, do you think pharmaceutical companies will ever want to find a "cure" for obesity? Why or why not? Also, remember to post at least 2 comments/blog post!