The Business Research Company (TBRC), a market research and intelligence firm, released a promising analysis of the global psoriatic arthritis treatment market.
On Wednesday, The Business Research Company (TBRC), a market research and intelligence firm, released a promising analysis of the global psoriatic arthritis treatment market and its trends and projected their market forecast into 2026.
Marking the novel development of Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors as a defining feature of the current market, TBRC anticipates that the market will expand to $13.17 billion dollars by 2026 if it maintains a compound annual growth rate of 10.2% at minimum.
Currently, there are only three approved JAK inhibitor therapies on the market to address the nearly 2.5 million patients afflicted with psoriatic arthritis: Xeljanz (tofacinib) is offered by Pfizer in both standard and extended-release forms; Eli Lilly and Incyte teamed up to produce Olumiant (baricitinib); and AbbVie’s recently approved Rinvoq (upadacitinib).
As the first to be approved for the treatment of psoriatic arthritis, Pfizer’s Xeljanz and Xeljanz XR (tofacinib) made waves when in 2017 it was found to show statistically significant improvement in patients combined with nonbiologic Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic drug (DMARD). Now, Xeljanz has also been approved for moderately-to-severely active Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). It quickly became one of the most prescribed JAK inhibitors for psoriatic arthritis despite competition with Eli Lilly’s Taltz (ixekizumab) and Novartis’ Cosentyx (secukinumab) at the time.
Eli Lilly entered the JAK inhibitor game a little later with Taltz, but its most influential drug product for psoriatic arthritis is currently Olumiant. Developed by Incyte and licensed to Lilly, this drug’s application portfolio now includes psoriatic arthritis and atopic dermatitis, and was authorized under emergency use for the treatment of hospitalized COVID-19 patients requiring oxygen in July 2021. Unfortunately, while lupus was previously a member of that candidacy list, failure to meet the primary response endpoint during Phase II resulted in the discontinuation of the study.
Meanwhile, Chicago’s own AbbVie is the latest biopharmaceutical company to receive FDA approval for its JAK inhibitor, Rinvoq, in the space. Originally approved in 2019 for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, it has since gained an equally impressive repertoire of addressable diseases that include psoriatic arthritis, Crohn’s Disease, atopic dermatitis and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in patients that respond inadequately or adversely to one or more tumor necrosis factors (TNF) blockers.
“Many adults still struggle to find a treatment option that helps them lower their disease activity,” said Iain McInnes, professor of medicine, Versus Arthritis professor of rheumatology at the University of Glasgow, U.K. “With this FDA approval, RINVOQ has the potential to help more people find meaningful relief from the signs and symptoms of psoriatic arthritis that they see and feel and to help reach their treatment goals.”
However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has raised and addressed consistent safety concerns regarding JAK inhibitors, beginning with Xeljanz and continuing into today. Multiple post-market evaluations of JAK inhibitors have found that patients treated with drugs like Xeljanz are at an increased risk for major adverse cardiac events (MACE) such as heart-related events and blood clots.
