Owing to Generic Erosion of Key Agents Such as Effexor XR, Cymbalta/Xeristar, Cipralex/Seroplex and Lexapro, the Unipolar Depres

Sales of Atypical Antipsychotics Such as Abilify and Seroquel Will Help to Partially Offset Market Decline, According to Findings from Decision Resources

WALTHAM, Mass., Aug. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that, owing to the generic erosion of key agents such as Pfizer's Effexor XR, Eli Lilly/Boehringer Ingelheim's Cymbalta/Xeristar and Forest Laboratories'/Lundbeck's Lexapro/Cipralex/Seroplex, the unipolar depression drug market will decrease in size by nearly 10 percent over the next decade in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Japan.

The Pharmacor 2010 findings from the topic entitled Unipolar Depression reveal that sales of therapies in the unipolar depression market—which includes those attributed to major depressive disorder, dysthymia and minor depression—will decline to just over $9 billion in 2019 in the countries under study. Although generic erosion will constrain overall growth, sales of atypical antipsychotics such as Bristol-Myers Squibb/Otsuka's Abilify and AstraZeneca's Seroquel will help to partially offset the market's decline.

"Atypical antipsychotics, most notably Abilify and Seroquel, will continue to have an increasing therapeutic role as adjunctive treatments to antidepressants in patients with treatment-resistant depression," said Decision Resources Analyst Natalie Taylor, Ph.D. "As a result, sales of atypical antipsychotics for unipolar depression will peak at just over $2 billion in 2011."

The Pharmacor 2010 findings also reveal that although most of the emerging therapies expected to launch through 2019 will likely offer only incremental clinical differences over selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), one exception is AstraZeneca/Targacept's TC-5214, a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor antagonist.

"TC-5214 is being developed as an adjunctive treatment to antidepressants for patients that do not respond adequately to an SSRI and/or an SNRI," Dr. Taylor said. "This agent could potentially offer an improved side effect profile compared to the atypical antipsychotics."

About Pharmacor 2010

The newly redesigned Pharmacor advisory service offers clients in the biopharmaceutical industry the most up-to-date information available on commercially significant disease topics.

About Decision Resources

Decision Resources (www.decisionresources.com) is a world leader in market research publications, advisory services and consulting designed to help clients shape strategy, allocate resources and master their chosen markets. Decision Resources is a Decision Resources, Inc. company.

About Decision Resources, Inc.

Decision Resources, Inc. is a cohesive portfolio of companies that offers best-in-class, high-value information and insights on important sectors of the healthcare industry. Clients rely on this analysis and data to make informed decisions. Please visit Decision Resources, Inc. at www.DecisionResourcesInc.com.

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Lisa Osgood

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SOURCE Decision Resources