| 13 Décembre 2017
HIV patients have been given cause for renewed hope from a recently published study in the journal ‘Annals of Oncology’ observes GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. The study revealed how physicians using the cancer drug nivolumab to treat a lung cancer patient also infected with HIV, noticed a dramatic reduction in the number of HIV-infected white blood cells. This revelation could ultimately lead to a cure for the once-deadly infection.
GlobalData’s latest report, ‘PharmaPoint: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) – Global Drug Forecast and Market Analysis to 2025’ reveals that the HIV marketplace is set to reach $22.5 billion across the * nine major markets (9MM) by 2025, representing a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 3.3% from 2015–2025.
Christopher Pace, Director of Infectious Diseases at GlobalData commented, ‘’A lucrative opportunity exists for any product that can effectively activate latent viruses and clear them from the body.’’
Current HIV management relies on antiretroviral therapy (ART). Over the past two decades, the safety and efficacy of ART, specifically its ability to suppress the HIV virus, has improved drastically, to the point where the vast majority of people living with HIV can live relatively normal lives free of major health complications associated with the infection. However, because these treatments do not actually clear the virus from the body, patients are dependent on ART indefinitely.
Pace continued, ‘‘Experts interviewed agree that drugs that can completely eliminate the virus and cure patients represent one of the greatest remaining unmet needs in the HIV space. While the results observed with nivolumab are exciting and certainly warrant further investigation, the cancer drug’s safety and effectiveness in treating HIV must be evaluated in large randomized controlled trials before any substantive conclusion can be drawn.’’
Moving forward, the company expects R&D efforts in the HIV space will continue to shift towards preventing or curing the infection, rather than simply suppressing viral activity.
* 9MM = US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, Japan), Brazil, and China
