Japan’s Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Treatment Market Value to Exceed $1 Billion by 2020

The Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) treatment market in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) countries of India, Australia, China and Japan will expand from $1.1 billion in 2013 to $1.7 billion by 2020, with the latter country remaining the largest contributor to growth, according to business intelligence provider GBI Research.

The company’s latest report* states that Japan had a 67.2% share of the APAC region’s NHL therapeutics market in 2013. While this will dip slightly to 64.7%, the country’s NHL market by value will reach approximately $1.1 billion by 2020.

Sravanthi Addapally, Analyst for GBI Research, says: “Japan’s expected growth will be largely attributable to a rapidly ageing population and increased NHL incident cases, as well as the launch of new targeted therapies to treat previously underserved patient segments with numerous unmet needs.

“Among the expected launches, ibrutinib for indolent NHL and everolimus for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma will increase the overall treatment costs and drive growth. The anticipated launches of monoclonal antibodies, such as Roche’s obinutuzumab, will also significantly boost the market.”

The analyst adds that the approval of additional indications for Adcetris and the launch of the Imunomax-γ, which is currently awaiting approval in Japan for mycosis fungoides/Sezary syndrome, will have a further positive impact.

However, financial measures implemented by the Japanese government will have a negative impact on the NHL treatment market over the forecast period.

Addapally explains: “The cost of marketed drugs is reduced biannually in Japan, and the government implemented a new policy in 2012 that exempts price cuts for patent-protected drugs.

“As such, it is the long-marketed and off-patent drugs with generic equivalents that are mostly affected by price reductions, limiting growth in this sector.”

*Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Therapeutics in Asia-Pacific Markets to 2020 - Novel Technologies Show Considerable Promise in Relapsed/Refractory Setting