Release issued 22nd June 2009

Roche and Schering-Plough will continue to be prominent players in the market, according to a new report from Decision Resources
 
June 22, 2009-Waltham, Mass. - Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that the Hepatitis C Virus drug market will expand dramatically from $2 billion in 2008 to nearly $7.7 billion in 2013 in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Japan. However, market growth thereafter will decrease to $3.4 billion in 2018 owing to a decline in the prevalence of the disease and the high efficacy of new treatment regimens.     
 
The new Pharmacor report entitled Hepatitis C Virus finds that, through 2013, robust market growth will be driven by the launches of novel Hepatitis C Virus-specific agents and an increase in the size of the drug-treated population. Roche and Schering-Plough will continue to be prominent players and a number of other companies-including Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer-will also carve out a share in the market. 
 
The report also finds that the competitive Hepatitis C Virus pipeline is characterized by its significant commercial potential which is well-recognized by drug developers. Several agents in late-stage development-most notably protease inhibitors such as Vertex/Johnson & Johnson/Mitsubishi Tanabe's Telaprevir and Schering-Plough's Boceprevir as well as Polymerase Inhibitors such as Roche/Pharmasset's R-7128 and Pfizer's Filibuvir-will drive market growth.
 
"The standard of care will change significantly with the introduction of new classes of Hepatitis C Virus-specific antiviral agents, such as protease inhibitors and polymerase inhibitors," said Decision Resources Analyst Alexandra Makarova, M.D., Ph.D. "Compounds from these new classes will initially be added to the backbone of currently used agents, forming triple or quadruple treatment regimens that are expected to be more efficacious than the current standard of care."

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