Drug market for COPD will increase from $8.3 billion in 2010 to more than $13.4 billion in 2020

Decision Resources, a research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that, owing to an expanding aging population, increases in drug treatment and the uptake of premium priced combinations, the drug market for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) will increase from approximately $8.3 billion in 2010 to more than $13.4 billion in 2020 in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Japan. The Pharmacor advisory service entitled Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, forecasts that the COPD drug-treated population will expand from approximately 19 million patients in 2010 to nearly 25 million patients in 2020 in the world's major pharmaceutical markets. Uptake of novel long-acting beta2 agonist/long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LABA/LAMA) fixed-dose combinations, including Boehringer Ingelheim’s olodaterol/tiotropium, will also drive market growth, given that they will likely be more expensive than single-agent bronchodilators