Age-Related Macular Degeneration Market to Experience Triple-Digit Growth 

The age-related macular degeneration (AMD) industry is eyeing a bright future.

The AMD sector in the seven major markets—the Untied States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Japan—is set to grow from $7.8 billion in 2024 to $20.5 billion in 2034, according to GlobalData, driven by new therapies with longer durations, new mechanisms of action, therapies for geographic atrophy (GA), and the first therapy for early AMD, which will increase treatment options available for patients with this sub-indication. 

GlobalData’s latest report, “Age-Related Macular Degeneration: Seven-Market Drug Forecast and Market Analysis,” attributes the market’s growth to the anticipated launch of 26 novel pipeline agents, coupled with a growing AMD population throughout the forecast period. 

“While AMD does not lead to complete blindness, the loss of central vision can negatively impact patients’ quality of life as everyday tasks becomes increasingly challenging,” GlobalData Managing Pharma Analyst Sara Reci said. “In interviews with GlobalData, key opinion leaders (KOLs) emphasized that the greatest unmet needs in the AMD space include the need for longer-acting therapies, treatment for GA, the prevention of fibrosis, and reducing the burden on patients and the healthcare system.” 

Looking ahead, some of the current late-stage pipeline products for wet AMD (wAMD) emulate the kinds of therapies currently on the market, employing the VEGF mechanism of action. Therapies that are anticipated to reach the AMD market during the forecast will introduce new mechanisms of action in the wAMD space. 

“While there are already two therapies on the market for GA in the U.S., and one conditionally approved therapy for GA in Japan, the late-stage pipeline is of great benefit for patients in the EU, where there are no approved therapy options for GA,” Reci noted. 

As for early AMD, Novartis’ Fabhalta, a complement factor B inhibitor already marketed for IgA nephropathy (Berger’s disease), membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis type II (dense deposit disease or C3 glomerulopathy), or paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, is set to launch across the seven major markets within the forecast period.  

Furthermore, the market is currently saturated with therapies that employ the intravitreal route of administration.  Nonetheless, there are some therapies currently in the pipeline for both wAMD and GA that employ alternative routes of administration.

“All in all, these late-stage pipeline candidates are of great benefit within the AMD space, especially in the cases of patients who do not respond well to existing treatment options for wAMD, patients in markets in which there are currently no available treatments for GA, and for early AMD patients, for whom there are no approved therapies across the 7MM,” Reci stated.

While the AMD market is projected to grow in the forecast period across the seven major markets, it may face some challenges. Throughout the forecast period, therapies are expected to lose market exclusivity, leading to the anticipated entry of biosimilars.

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