Drug delivery market set to double

Sales of drug delivery products are expected to increase by 100% over the next five years as technologies currently being researched and developed reach fruition and are commercialized, according to "Drug Delivery Technologies and Markets," a new publication from London-based research company Informa Pharmaceuticals.

Currently, the market for special drug delivery technology is $50 billion a year, or 12.5% of world total pharmaceutical sales; by 2005, sales of delivery products are likely to exceed $100 billion, predicts the 200-page report. "Drug delivery will expand faster than the total pharmaceutical market," said Kewal Jain, author of the report.

Within this market, needle-free injector systems appear to be set for huge expansion from the current sales of $400 million a year, equivalent to 5% of the total needle/syringe market, to $1 billion by 2005. "Needleless injections could offer significant cost savings for cash-strapped health providers," said Jain. "The cost of needles and syringes is 1 million pound sterling per one million injections, whereas the same number of injections would cost 100,000 to 200,000 pounds using needleless injector systems."

Gene therapy is likely to be one of the most active growth sectors as biotech companies become involved in drug delivery. Currently, no product in this category has reached the market, but several are in phase III clinical trials. By the year 2005, some of these products will reach the market, with an estimated value of $5 billion. PR