INTRODUCTION
This study examines trends in drug discovery and development for neurodegenerative disorders. Diseases examined include Alzheimer's disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Huntington's disease (HD), the muscular dystrophies (MD), multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson's disease (PD), and Batten disease (BD) and Niemann-Pick disease (NPD), two rare disorders for which treatments exist or are in clinical trials.
It examines medications approved by regulatory agencies as well as candidate drugs in clinical trials. Sponsors range from large companies such as Wyeth to smaller ones, such as PTC Therapeutics and Amorfix. Trends in financing and business approaches are examined, as are strategies for commercializing new products. The report also makes predictions about technologies and approaches that are more or less likely to succeed, and how they are likely to grow in the next 5 years.
SCOPE OF STUDY
This report contains:
METHODOLOGY AND INFORMATION SOURCES
The material for this report was gathered from interviews with individuals in the industry, as well as a thorough review of technology gathered from secondary sources. These sources include company annual, 10K, and 10Q reports, company literature, trade literature, trade associations, and online sources.
Projections were based on current and historical levels of funding and revenues, potential end users, likely unit prices, and rates of consumption. Final projections are based on the analysis of information from primary and secondary sources. All dollar projections are presented in year 2007 constant dollars and have been rounded.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Valerie Natale received a Ph.D. in cell biology from the University of Bern, Switzerland. She has held management-level positions in the biotechnology industry, and has written four other reports for BCC Research, in addition to other consulting work in the biotechnology industry. She is also involved in the development of a therapeutic agent for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
