IL-17 inhibitors will drive psoriatic arthritis market to $12.6 billion by 2025

The increase in diagnosed prevalent cases and the launches of interleukin (IL)-17 inhibitors, such as Eli Lilly’s Taltz and AstraZeneca’s Lumicef, will drive the market.

The company’s latest report states that the relatively strong growth will primarily be driven by the increase in diagnosed prevalent cases. The launches of interleukin (IL)-17 inhibitors, such as Eli Lilly’s Taltz (ixekizumab) and AstraZeneca’s Lumicef (brodalumab), as well as Celgene’s oral therapy Otezla (apremilast), will also drive the market, and will provide more treatment options for physicians.

Alexandra Annis, MS, GlobalData’s Analyst covering Immunology, explains: “Reasons for the increased diagnosed cases of psoriatic arthritis include better awareness of the disease due to educational campaigns and an interdisciplinary approach to managing the condition between dermatologists and rheumatologists. As such, the number of total treated cases in the 7MM is expected to increase from around 770,000 in 2015 to almost 1.2 million by 2025.”

The psoriatic arthritis community has welcomed the recent approval of Novartis’ IL-17 inhibitor Cosentyx, which touts the highest clinical efficacy of any biologic yet approved. X-ray assessment data has demonstrated that 84% of patients showed no further progression of structural joint damage over two years of Cosentyx.

Annis continues: “The psoriatic arthritis market will be full of therapeutic options, with nine branded biologic drugs on the market over the forecast period. This includes the recent approvals of Lumicef and Taltz in Japan, as well as an oral systemic therapy, Otezla, and three new biologic and oral drugs in the late-stage pipeline.

“The lack of long-term efficacy for psoriatic arthritis treatments causes patients to have to cycle through the drugs. Thus, the addition of drugs with strong clinical efficacy provides a better choice of therapies for physicians and patients.”

GlobalData expects most of the current pipeline products will be launched by mid-forecast, with Lumicef and Taltz leading the way. In 2025, with all of the approved drugs trying to jockey for position and stand out among the rest, Taltz will gross an estimated $1.42 billion in total drug sales—the highest among IL-17 inhibitors. Overall, a crowded treatment space and a constant need for reduced drug costs mean new entrants will find it difficult to make an impact on the psoriatic arthritis therapy space.