NSAIDs AND GI SIDE EFFECTS
Market Overview
Pain is a serious and costly public health concern affecting more people in the U.S. than diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined. In 2010, the U.S. National Center for Health Studies reported that approximately 30% of U.S. adults 18 years of age and over reported recent symptoms of pain, aching or swelling around a joint within the past 30 days. Some of the most common and debilitating chronic inflammation and pain-related diseases are osteoarthritis (OA), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and acute and chronic pain.
According to National Health Interview Survey data analyzed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 50 million U.S. adults 18 years of age and over had reported being diagnosed with some form of arthritis. With the aging of the U.S. population, the prevalence of arthritis is expected to rise by approximately 40% by 2030, impacting 67 million people in the U.S. We believe that the large and growing population afflicted with pain and arthritis and the limitations of current treatment options create a growing market opportunity for us.
Market Opportunity and Limitations of Existing Treatments
NSAIDs are very effective at providing pain relief, including pain associated with OA and RA, however, there are significant upper GI-associated adverse events that can result from the use of NSAIDs. As a result, COX-2 inhibitor drugs (i.e., VioxxTM, Merck; Celebrex/ BextraTM, Pfizer) were introduced to the market in order to provide pain and arthritis relief with reduced risk of significant upper GI-associated adverse events. The COX-2 drugs generated approximately $6.3 billion in sales at their peak in 2004. However, safety concerns associated with COX-2 inhibitor drugs led to the withdrawal of Vioxx and Bextra from the market in 2004 and a significant decline in the use of Celebrex. In the U.S. alone, over $3 billion in sales of COX-2 inhibitor drugs were lost. As a result, demand for traditional prescription NSAIDs, such as ibuprofen and meloxicam, has increased dramatically.
.jpg)
According to a 2004 article published in Ailment Pharmacology & Therapeutics, significant GI side effects, including serious ulcers, afflict approximately 25% of all chronic arthritis patients treated with NSAIDs for three months and OA and RA patients are up to two to five times more likely than the general population to be hospitalized for NSAID-related GI complications. It is estimated that NSAID-induced GI toxicity causes over 16,500 related deaths and over 107,000 hospitalizations for serious GI complications each year. In more than 80% of patients with these serious GI complications, there are no prior symptoms or warning signals.
Low Compliance
Despite the fact that GI ulcers are one of the most prevalent adverse events resulting from the use of NSAIDs in the U.S., according to a 2006 article published in BMC Muskoskeletal Disorders, eleven observational studies indicated that physicians do not commonly co-prescribe GI protective agents to high-risk patients. Physicians prescribe concomitant therapy to only 24% of NSAID users and studies show sub-optimal patient compliance with concomitant prophylaxis therapy. According to a 2003 article published in Ailment Pharmacology & Therapeutics, in a study of 784 patients, 37% of patients were non-compliant, a rate increasing to 61% in patients treated with three or more drugs. This noncompliance results in a substantial unmet clinical need, which we believe can be appropriately addressed with DUEXIS, creating a simple solution for both patients and physicians.
Last updated May 30, 2012