Diabetes

Diabetes facts

  • In 2017 the USA alone had over 30 million patients living with diabetes, rising to 100M including pre-diabetic
  • In recent years diabetes prevalence has been rising rapidly in middle and low-income countries especially in Asia
  • The global diabetes drug market is estimated to be $USD 57 billion in 2019, second only to cancer in the pharmaceutical industry
  • There are no current disease modifying drugs approved, with only available treatments helping to manage symptoms
  • Of these symptom treating drugs, the global market for SGLT2 alone was worth $USD 6.5 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at CAGR of 16%

 A huge market potential exists for diabetes - an estimated 422 million people were living with the disease in 2014. Diabetes caused 1.5 million deaths in 2012 where related complications included heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, leg amputation, vision loss and nerve damage (WHO Global Report on Diabetes 2016). There two main types of diabetes, type-1 being autoimmune related but the vast majority of sufferers have type-2, which is a chronic condition of insulin resistance and high blood sugar level. There is still no cure for any type of diabetes with most treatments helping patients to manage the symptoms to a certain extent, but diabetics still face multiple long-term health complications.