Pharmaceutical sales for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) marketplaces were projected to be $4.9 billion in 2016, and it’s expected to reach a price of $11.5 billion in 2026, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) rise of 8.9%, stated by a leading data and analytics company.

According to a company report states that this growth will be driven by new therapies entering the market and a global aging society, which will lead to increasing numbers of elderly people developing AMD.

Some of the predictions made by a leading data and analytics company that the launches of three drugs for the treatment of geographic atrophy (GA), the late stage of dry age-related macular degeneration (dAMD), and three late-stage pipeline drugs for wet AMD (wAMD). In particular, the launch of drugs into the AMD market to treat dAMD will be a large driver of growth, as there are currently no prescription medications available for these patients.

Healthcare expert comments as: “We expect that with the launch of brolucizumab in the wAMD market, Novartis will offset the losses to Eylea and regain dominance in the AMD market. Once more efficacy and safety data collects and physicians become more accustomed to the use of brolucizumab, its advantage of less frequent dosing will allow it to claim an increasing share and become a first-line therapy if reimbursed.”

Key opinion leaders interviewed by GlobalData emphasized that pricing will also play a key role in the uptake of brolucizumab. Novartis’ brolucizumab is estimated to reach an epic status by 2021, and will be the highest selling drug by 2026 among all drugs launching to the AMD market, with $4.1bn in global sales.

New drugs entering the dAMD market will include two anti-complement agents: Apellis’ APL-2 and Ophthotech’s Zimura, and one neuroprotective agent, Allergan’s Brimo DDS, which together will drive an increase of the treated AMD cases, expanding the AMD market.

Further the expert added “Due to the failure of each clinical test of Phase III trials of lampalizumab for the treatment of GA, Apellis’ APL-2 emerged because the most promising GA drug once it’s positive Phase IIa results were declared. Provided that the planned Phase III trial of APL-2 for GA will confirm these results, we forecast that Apellis’ drug will reach blockbuster status within a few years of its launch, by 2025.”