bioworld - Medical Device Daily

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Weight loss obsession is not too strong
a phrase to describe the mania connected
with the desire to be thin, and
that obsession is verified by the $200
billion annual expenditure to slim
down by almost any means available.
Everyone is America is estimated to
know at least a dozen people who
have expressed a desire to lose weight
or who are engaged in activities that
target weight loss. And who among us
doesn’t have one or two “miracle”
products stored in the attic, medicine
cabinet, or in use, that purported to
either “melt the pounds away, burn
calories while you sleep, quadruple
your metabolism, or flush the fat right
down the toilet”?
Because of the obsession of people,
young and old, weighing anywhere
from 50 to 500 pounds, this class of
drugs is projected to have tremendous
out-the-gate potential, due to the
appeal of its indication. Everyone wants
to lose weight (even those who don’t
particularly need to) for motives ranging
from health to peer pressure and vanity.
The market for weight loss therapeutics
is expected to explode upon arrival,
inasmuch as the majority of Americans
are already overweight or obese, and
even a portion of the remaining percentage
believe they could stand to
lose a few pounds, even if just for aesthetic
motives, rather than health-related
ones. Although the current therapeutics
are generally prescribed to critically
obese people, some experts
believe that future drugs in this space
may be more widely prescribed, possibly
treating patients who have only 10
to 20 pounds to lose. Market growth is
spurred by afflicted patients who can’t
help themselves and by people affected
by social and personal mores who
just want to help themselves to look or
feel better. Driving this market is not
only a hunger binge trend in developed
nations, but an impulsive consumer
base that is either anxious to be thin or
determined to be healthy.
THE BIOWORLD AND MEDICAL DEVICE DAILY OBESITY REPORT
The expected market boom could
trump the market head starts experienced
by other two broadly anticipated
markets that had lifestyle implications
as well as medical applications:
erectile dysfunction and sleep disorders.
The trend for market success in
the weight loss sector is projected to
exceed the market debut runs of those
cohort sectors that also had lifestyle
implications that help to boost product
revenue opportunities by incorporating
a degree of consumer appeal
with its semi-cosmetic application, to
go along with the more critical medical
application for severely-stricken
patients.
This is a market-in-waiting that is
poised to gallop through the pharmacy
upon approval. This forecast is comparable
to when millions lined up in anticipation
of ED drug market releases, not
entirely for chronic conditions, rather to
experience the promise of increased
sexual stamina, and when many people,
some with dubiously marginal
affliction, overstated their cases in order
to obtain the instant relief of a chemically
induced good night’s sleep rather
than affect a lifestyle change that might
require sacrifice.
Both classes of drugs have serious
medical applications, but both have
lifestyle appeal also. Weight loss
obsession among the socially conscious
and trendy is estimated to
exceed the prurient appeal of even sex
and sleep and is apt to increase market
penetration for the impending round
of obesity products.
The Weight of the World to Come:
Challenges and Issues of the
Future Market
There is little doubt that if everyone
adhered to the BMI, the world’s population
would benefit from the general
and individual weight loss. It wouldn’t
be absolved of disease and health
afflictions, rather it would be just
decidedly healthier than it is now.
However, to supporters of the Disease
Theory, such acknowledgement is not
validation of the BMI or its validity to
identify or predict disease.
Debate may persist regarding how to
define obesity, but the statistics bear
out unmistakable facts: It is costing a
lot of money to treat; it is an onset factor
in most Type II diabetes cases; and
more people are falling into the group,
which has become the largest and
fastest-growing health affliction category
in the world.
There is debate regarding whether or
not obesity warrants the conventionally
defined epidemic label ascribed to it
by many authorities; however obesity
is, at the least, an uncontrolled, spiraling
problem.
The ineffectiveness (on a meaningful,
curative scale) of any individual, voluntary,
organized or government resolution
initiative to curtail or reverse the
obesity problem puts the onus on a clinical
response to address the problem.
Biotechnology is on the forefront of that
battle with innovative research, candidates
poised to tackle the pervasive epidemic
conditions, while med-tech is
already a player with effective products
and services, as well as a roster of novel
technologies in development.
Why hasn’t pharma stirred up a latestage
partnering frenzy for biotech’s
leading candidates? BioWorld concludes
that the poor performance of
the prescription drug market, as well
as the significant number of clinical
near-misses and failures, to date in
the anti-obesity space would still
require too big a leap of faith in
biotech’s R&D at this point for big
pharma to take. The most likely scenario
will be an eleventh-hour Phase
III deal or post-approval M&A activity.
Also, if one of the candidates succeeds
in getting FDA approval, the
other two could then draw a lot of
partnering attention. The three leading
candidates show promise, but are