Big Pharma pushing up orphan drug prices

According to Evaluate’s Orphan Drug Report 2017, today, the median cost/patient for an orphan drug is 5.5 times higher than for non-orphan prescription drugs. The analysts forecast the market to continue growth with a CGAR of 11.1% by 2022, doubling the current growth rate of the prescription med market. Evaluate forecasts global OD sales to hit US$209bn by 2022, achieving a market share of 21.4% of worldwide prescription sales excluding generics by then.

The image of the plucky small biotech striving to develop treatments for the rare diseases largely ignored by big pharma is long gone. Instead, this year we again find Big Pharma dominating the sector. Seven of the top ten companies by orphan drug sales are global industry players, said Lisa Urquhart, who co-authored the report. The pricing incentives are substantial, adds co-analyst Andreas Hadjivasiliou Of the top 100 drugs in the US, the average cost per patient per year for an orphan drug was US$140,443 in 2016, compared with US$27,756 for a non-orphan, putting pressure on the industry to continue to generate innovations that justify the huge costs of treatments.

Evaluate predicts Celgene set to climb to number one position in orphan drug sales by 2022. Shire is expected to be the largest OD maker by sales in the non-oncology space, then. The analysts forecast AstraZeneca, Abbvie and Johnson & Johnson to march up the orphan drug sales ranking table. Taken today’s authorised orphan drugs, Revlimid (lenalidomide) is set to become No.1 orphan drug in 2022; Opdivo (nivolumab) will be sales leader in the European market then. Evaluate expects OD to account for 55% of the cumulative value of the European pipeline by 2022.