--根据独立分析公司Datamonitor Healthcare发布的报告，在未来9年，丙型肝炎（Hepatitis C）市场预计将增长230%，并在2022年达到155亿美元。吉利德（Gilead）公司备受期盼的药物sofosbuvir将成为丙型肝炎市场的主要贡献者，该药已在临床试验中展现出可喜的结果。
今年2月，吉利德宣布sofosbuvir第4个也是最后一个III期研究获得成功，并于今年4月向FDA提交了sofosbuvir的监管文件，使得该公司成为首个向FDA申请口服治疗丙型肝炎的企业，而其竞争对手如AbbVie、百时美施贵宝在相关领域的研究尚处于后期开发阶段。
如果获批，sofosbuvir将成为用于C型肝炎治疗的首个全口服组合治疗方案中的重要组成部分，并有望消除传统注射药物的需求。
其他数个制药巨头之间的激烈竞争，也将推动丙型肝炎市场的增长，包括AbbVie、强生（JNJ）、百时美施贵宝（Bristol-Myers Squibb），这些公司也在竞相开发更好的无干扰素（interferon-free）疗法。
Datamonitor Healthcare公司流行病学专家Sabada Dube称，尽管当前临床已获得突破进展，但在世界各地，丙型肝炎仍然是一个巨大的公共健康问题。目前，在美国、日本、5大欧盟主要市场（法国、德国、意大利、西班牙、英国），约有700万丙型肝炎患者。除日本外，这些市场的患者人数预计将增加。
Datamonitor Healthcare分析师Michael Haydock称，传统的干扰素疗法，耐受性差且治疗持续时间长，因此，对新的和改善的无干扰素疗法的需求只会持续增长。
英文原文：Hepatitis C market forecast for 230% growth in next nine years
Growth to be driven by fierce competition in new drug development
Research from Datamonitor Healthcare, the leading independent healthcare analyst, has revealed that the Hepatitis C market is forecast to grow by 230 per cent, peaking at $15.5bn in 2022. Gilead’s highly anticipated drug sofosbuvir will be the main contributor to market value as it has demonstrated promising results in clinical trials.
Fierce competition between several big pharma companies including AbbVie, Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb, will also drive this market growth as they rush to develop improved interferon-free regimens.
Sabada Dube, lead epidemiologist at Datamonitor Healthcare, said: “Despite recent clinical breakthroughs, Hepatitis C remains a huge public health problem across the world with 7 million people currently living with the virus across the US, Japan and 5 major EU markets*. The number of people living with hepatitis C in these markets is forecast to increase except in Japan where marginal declines in infected people is expected.”
Michael Haydock, analyst at Datamonitor Healthcare, said: “Traditional interferon-based therapies suffer from poor tolerability profiles and lengthy treatment durations, and the prevalence of infections is predicted to increase by 200,000 by the year 2022. Therefore, the demand for new and improved interferon-free drugs is only going to rise.
“In short, we’re expecting the market value to soar.”
*The 5 major EU markets are France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.