HIV drug market
growing by the billions

By 2015 the HIV market will balloon to $10.6 billion, in part because of new drugs from Merck, Tibotec, and Pfizer, reports ScientificAmerican.com. The market was worth around $7.1 billion in 2005 and will be changing significantly as new classes of drugs are introduced.

Mansi Shaw, analyst at the firm Datamonitor, said, "We're expecting the market to grow to about $10 billion in the next 10 years, despite patent expires for several key HIV drugs." The expected growth will come largely from new drugs being launched.

Reuters reports that while pharmaceutical companies are pressured to slash prices for drugs in the developing world, selling HIV drugs in the West is a highly profitable business.

IMS Health released a report last month stating that the global pharmaceutical market grew 7% in 2006, to $643 billion. (The Advocate)