DefinedHealth

Aileen Nicoletti, PhD.

As one of the few true specialist categories without overlap in primary care, Ophthalmology has historically held a rather low profile, with the branded market dominated by a handful of specialty players such as Allergan and Alcon, along with Big Pharma participants such as Pfizer (Pharmacia), Novartis and Merck, all marketing topical anti-infectives, analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs, that are reasonably effective in treating alone or adjunctively to procedures. As Pharma players scramble for the next lucrative specialty franchise, there has been an
awakening to the potential in an otherwise genericizing Ophthalmology market, stimulated by Pfizer’s $760 MM deal with Eyetech in 2002 for Macugen, the first-to-market anti-VEGF for AMD. Analysts forecast the U.S. market to grow at an annual rate of 11% in the US over the next 5 years, driven primarily by AMD.

Activity in the Ophthalmology space has continued to heat up in the past year with at least five licensing deals for AMD products and the acquisition of Eyetech by OSI. With over 75 anti-angiogenic programs in development for Oncology indications, it will be interesting to see how, and if, the potential for these compounds in the Ophthalmology space and in other disease areas will be exploited.