Room at the Inn

Central nervous system (CNS) disorders are an increasing component of overall healthcare spending within the developed pharmaceutical markets in Europe. It was estimated that these disorders contribute to around one-third of the disease burden across the major pharmaceutical markets in Europe (the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain), as measured in terms of daily-adjusted life years (DALYs) in 2004. CNS disorders within the European population are steadily rising, both in terms of prevalence and thankfully treatment. This shift has been driven by a number of factors, such as improving diagnostic techniques, ageing population demographics and a gradual move away from the stigma associated with neurological and psychiatric disorders. Mature markets such as depression remain the major cash cows for pharmaceutical corporations; however, they remain highly competitive, with an excessive number of similar products and plagued by problems such as generic competition and parallel imports.

WHAT IS THE WAY AHEAD IN CNS?

In spite of being a therapeutic segment overcrowded with products, it is ironic that CNS suffers from a high level of unmet need. Primarily, this is due to the low level of innovation in the segment over the last decade or so. Most of the products across established markets, such as depression and psychosis, provide little or moderate improvement in efficacy and respite from side effects. So what does this all mean for players in the European CNS market? Has the proverbial sea of opportunities dried up? Which are the therapeutic areas with potential to support blockbusters in the future?