A GLOBAL MARKET
Alzheimer's Disease
Contributes to 60-70% of the dementia cases in the general population. The market potential in AD is several bn USD per year. As a reference, the cognitive enhancer drug Aricept had annual sales of 3.3bn USD in 2010 before the patent expired (Al-Shamahi & Jago 2012, A Thompson Reuters Report, Spotlight on Alzheimer´s disease).
Parkinson's Disesase
Dementia occurs in approximately 50% of patients during their lifetime. Approximately 2m patients live with Parkinson’s in the US and 2.4m in EU. Sales in this indication would be above 1bn USD per year.
Down Syndrome
Down syndrome individuals are especially prone to developing dementia and represent the largest group of dementia patients below 50 years of age (Hanney et al 2012; Lancet). Down syndrome (DS; Trisomy 21) is the most common genetic disorder causing cognitive problems, affecting as many as 1 out of 800 live born children, with almost 6 million individuals worldwide.
Bottom-up market analysis shows that Pharmasum´s drug candidate PST-674 has a large commercial potential depending on annual price and market penetration. Using dementia in DS as a stepping-stone, other dementia indications will be explored and will provide significant additional commercial upside.