Low diagnosis, treatment rates to limit growth of Hepatitis B market

LONDON — A new report from GlobalData is noting that the growth in the market for hepatitis B drugs might be limited in the next 8 years. 

 

The consulting firm projects that the global treatment market for the illness will only grow from $2.4 billion in 2014 to $3 billion in 2024, a sluggishness it attributes to lack of screening for and education about hepatitis B, as well as the high price tag that treatments for the largely asymptomatic disease carry. 

 

“This problem (of patients being asymptomatic until sever liver damage presents itself) is exacerbated by the fact that there is no active universal screening program for chronic hepatitis B, and physicians may not always think of testing for this infection,” GlobalData’s analyst for infectious diseases, Daian Chang, said. “As a result, the detection of hepatitis B relies largely on individuals, which is challenging when people are uneducated about the disease.”

 

GlobalData also pointed out that many patients affected by hepatitis B also happen to be part of low-income populations and likely not covered by medical insurance or reluctant to seek treatment.  

 

“Despite the high incentive among experts interviewed for this report to improve the efforts of identifying new patients and applying them with the most effective and safest drugs available, social changes will certainly be crucial to the improvement in diagnosis and treatment rates of chronic hepatitis B,” Chang said.