A new report published by visiongain in July 2016 forecasts that overall sales of drugs for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) will generate revenues of $34.6bn in 2020. Sales will grow until 2018, and then decline as the many of the leading TNF inhibitors lose patent protection and biosimilars become more prominent.

That revenue prediction and others appear in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) Drugs Market 2016-2026 – Trends, Progress and Revenue Forecasting: Evaluation of Classes (Biologic DMARDs, Synthetic DMARDs and Other Agents) and Products Including Humira, Enbrel, Remicade, Rituxan, Actemra and Biosimilars; Assessment of Leading Companies Including AbbVie, Roche, J&J, Amgen, Pfizer and Merck & Co.; Prediction of Leading National Markets (US, Japan the EU5 and BRIC); and Investigation of Late-Stage R&D Including IL-6, JAK, BTK and GM-CSF Inhibitors.

Visiongain is a business information publisher and consultancy in London, UK. Its purpose is to help organisations assess potentials of industries and markets in healthcare and other fields.

Its new investigation predicts that, in the years after 2018, biosimilars will be widely available, the market will become saturated with products, and there will be a strong downward pressure on product pricing. Research and development holds potential, however, with new products expected to change that market.

In 2015, biologics were the dominant source of revenue for manufacturers, accounting for 92.3% of the global drug market for RA. However the study shows that segment will decline in market share over the forecast period as leading products such as AbbVie’s Humira (adalimumab), Amgen/Pfizer’s Enbrel (etanercept) and J&J/Merck’s Remicade (infliximab) face strong competition from biosimilars and newer biologics.

Alastair McDougall, a pharmaceutical industry analyst in visiongain, said: “The TNF inhibitors have been very lucrative drugs for manufacturers, but very expensive ones for patients. The rise to prominence of the biosimilars provides a way of reducing the cost of treatment but retaining the same level of efficacy. The introduction of new biologics, such as IL-6 inhibitors, could provide more-targeted drugs with greater levels of efficacy, while the arrival of new JAK inhibitors and BTK inhibitors could provide oral treatments which reduce the need for biologics. There are a lot of opportunities for new drugs in RA, and it is going to be interesting to see how the market develops.”

Along with revenue prediction for the overall world market for treating rheumatoid arthritis, visiongain’s work shows revenue forecasts to 2026 for two main submarkets:

• Biologics (biological drugs, e.g. monoclonal antibodies [mAbs])
• Non-biologics (other therapeutic molecules).

For the non-biologics submarket, that work shows three further revenue breakdowns to 2026:

• NSAIDs
• sDMARDs
• Others agents (grouped).

The study then shows revenue predictions to 2026 for 11 products, including the following drugs:

• Humira (adalimumab)
• Enbrel (etanercept)
• Remicade (infliximab)
• Rituxan (rituximab)
• Actemra (tocilizumab)
• Orencia (abatacept).

In addition, the analysis covers prominent national markets for RA drug sales, with revenue forecasts to 2026 for these 11 countries:

• US
• Japan
• Germany, France, UK, Italy and Spain (EU5)
• Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC).

The survey examines leading pharmaceutical companies in that market, discussing mergers and acquisitions, collaborations and R&D, as well as recent sales results. Companies covered include these:

• AbbVie
• Roche
• J&J
• Amgen
• Pfizer
• Merck & Co.

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) Drugs Market 2016-2026 adds to visiongain’s reports on industries and markets in healthcare. That portfolio covers pharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostics and outsourced services. Each year new and updated studies appear.