Generic Erosion of Nine Branded Agents Will Significantly Constrain Growth in the Hospital-Acquired Infections Drug Market Through 2019

BURLINGTON, Mass., Dec. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that the generic erosion of nine branded agents will significantly constrain growth in the hospital-acquired infections (HAI) drug market through 2019 in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Japan.

These nine agents -- piperacillin/tazobactam (Pfizer's Zosyn/Tazocin, generics), linezolid (Pfizer's Zyvox), daptomycin (Cubist/Novartis's Cubicin), imipenem/cilastatin (Merck's Primaxin), meropenem (AstraZeneca/Cubist's Merrem), ertapenem (Merck's Invanz), doripenem (Shionogi's Finibax/Ortho-McNeil's Doribax), levofloxacin (Johnson & Johnson's Levaquin, Sanofi-Aventis's Tavanic, Daiichi Sankyo's Cravit) and moxifloxacin (Bayer/Merck's Avelox) -- garnered 65 percent of total market sales in the HAI drug market in 2009. Owing to generic erosion, combined sales of these agents will be reduced to 40 percent of the overall market in 2019.

The findings from the Pharmacor topic entitled Hospital-Acquired Infections reveal that market contraction due to generic erosion of most of the current antibiotic brands will be partially offset by the uptake of several novel therapies, namely telavancin (Theravance/Astellas's Vibativ), ceftaroline (Forest/AstraZeneca's Teflaro) and Trius's torezolid. Telavancin, launched in 2009 for complicated skin and skin structure infections, is projected to have a steady uptake. Ceftaroline, an anti-MRSA cephalosporin approved in 2010 for treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infection (ABSSSI) and community-acquired bacterial pneumonia, will capture a significant portion of the HAI market with peak-year sales forecasted to be up to $500 million. An emerging oxazolidinone, torezolid -- which is being developed in dual IV/oral formulation -- is currently in Phase III development for ABSSSIs and is expected to capture a significant portion of the HAI market after its forecasted U.S. launch in 2014.

"Ceftaroline and, to a lesser extent, telavancin, will be key near-term drivers of growth in the HAI market in the wake of a wave antibiotic patent expiries," said Decision Resources Analyst Charu Vepari, Ph.D. "Future market growth will likely be driven by the uptake of torezolid and the introduction of novel therapies to manage gram-negative infections. Both ceftaroline, with its novel anti-MRSA activity and high physician enthusiasm, and torezolid, which offers a favorable safety profile and once-daily dosing, are the drugs to watch in the HAI market. "

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SOURCE Decision Resources