Asia-Pacific HCV market expects to grow to over $8 billion by 2023

Experts estimate that the hepatitis C market in the Asia-Pacific region — including India, China, Australia, South Korea and Japan — will grow from $5.3 in 2016 to $8.3 billion in 2023, according to a press release from GBI Research.

“The hepatitis C therapeutics market is highly competitive and has rapidly matured; however, the supremacy of all-oral [direct-acting antiviral] regimens will continue during the forecast period, by virtue of their high efficacy, good safety and tolerability, and current low viral resistance rates,” Vivek Goswami, analyst at GBI Research, said in the release.

In the company’s latest report, “Hepatitis C Therapeutics in Asia-Pacific Markets to 2023,” the analysts wrote that the growth of the HCV market is due to the recent development of pangenotypic DAAs, expansion of treatment coverage to patients previously unqualified for DAA therapy, and the elimination of ribavirin- and interferon-based treatments.

“At present, developers are seeking to differentiate their products by using clinical trial and real-world data to provide insights on the efficacy and tolerability of their products in niche patient populations,” Goswami continued in the release. “The developers of late-stage pipeline agents are focusing on pangenotypic activity and targeting populations that are likely to emerge as major difficult-to-treat populations in the near future — most importantly, patients who have failed DAA-containing regimens.”

The analysts remarked, however, that the market will likely decline after the 2023 forecast due to the high SVR rates obtained by recently approved DAAs, such as Merck’s Zepatier (elbasvir/grazoprevir), which recently launched in Japan, Australia and South Korea at a significantly lower listed price than other marketed products. – by Talitha Bennett

Reference: www.gbiresearch.com