The world vaccine market has grown 21.5 percent since 2007 to reach $19.2 billion, and a new report forecasts the market to more than double by 2013.
The report, from life science market research publisher Kalorama Information, says few areas of pharmaceuticals have seen the fast-moving developments in the marketplace that the vaccine market has.
"Vaccines 2009: World Market Analysis, Key Players, and Critical Trends in a Fast-Changing Industry" attributes that growth to a strong pipeline of new products and increasing use of products around the world.
"New products and better-than-expected profits, as well as merger activity, have transformed the vaccine marketplace," said Bruce Carlson, publisher of Kalorama Information. "Continued sales of influenza and cervical cancer vaccines have provided a foundation for growth in the adult market."
Carlson also notes that the pediatric market has been fueled by several major products, including Wyeth's pneumococcal vaccines Prevnar and Merck's new rotavirus vaccine TotaTeq.
Vaccination programs typically focus on children, although adults in industrialized countries are more likely than children to die as a result of vaccine-preventable diseases.
For example, vaccines can prevent about 50 percent of deaths from pneumococcal disease and 80 percent of deaths from influenza-related complications in the elderly. Immunization rates for these diseases continue to be low in at-risk populations, but the Kalorama report concludes that increased educational efforts aiming to promote the benefits of immunization should contribute to continued growth.
Market growth is also being fueled by vaccines that have recently been introduced or are in the approval process that address meningitis, swine flu, malaria and Japanese encephalitis, as well as a growing number of combination vaccines that are enjoying one of the highest growth rates of any vaccine segment.
Both Sanofi Pasteur's Penacel, which protects against pertussis, diphtheria, tetanus, polio and Haemophilus influenza type B, and GlaxoSmithKline's Kimrix, which protects against pertussis, diphtheria, tetanus and polio, were approved by the FDA in mid 2008.
Photo by Zaldylmg obtained under Creative Commons license.