Topical Drug Delivery Market Overview
The global topical drug delivery market size is expected to grow significantly in the near future. The growth of the market is attributed to the surging prevalence of diabetes, increasing number of burn cases, rising prevalence of dermal diseases, and technological advancements in topical drug delivery systems. The primary end users of topical drug delivery systems are private clinics and hospitals. Some other end users include diagnostic centers and home care centers.
The two product types of topical drug delivery systems are devices, which include transdermal gels and transdermal patches, and formulations, which include solid, semi-solid, and liquid topical formulations. The semi-solid topical formulations accounted for the major topical drug delivery market share in the past, owing to the increasing number of surgical procedures, including organ transplantation, where these formulations were utilized, and rising rate of blood donations. Gel, lotion & paste, ointment, and cream are different types of semi-solid formulations.
Topical drugs can be administered into the body through various routes, namely vaginal, skin, nasal, rectal, and ophthalmic. Out of these, the skin drug delivery held the largest share of the topical drug delivery market, which is due to the increasing requirement for self-administered drugs, rising incidence of skin diseases, and growing number of product approvals for skin-related drug delivery systems. Alopecia, acne, onychomycosis, anesthetics, psoriasis, actinic keratosis, rosacea, dermatitis & atopic dermatitis are the various diseases for which topical drug delivery systems are utilized.
Geographically, the largest topical drug delivery market share was held by North America in the past, primarily because of the presence of large number of pharmaceutical companies. The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is expected to grow at the fastest pace in the coming years. The reasons for this are the rising healthcare expenditure, increasing focus of pharmaceutical companies in the market in developing countries, growing geriatric population, and surging disposable income.
Topical Drug Delivery Market Dynamics
Drivers
The increasing prevalence of diabetes is a key driving factor for the topical drug delivery market growth. As per the World Health Organization, the number of people suffering from diabetes rose from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014. Furthermore, approximately 1.6 million deaths were caused by diabetes in 2016. Diabetes is a chronic disease which occurs if the body cannot use the insulin it produces effectively or if the pancreas does not produce enough insulin. Since topical drugs are used extensively for treating diabetic neuropathic pain and foot ulcers, their demand is increasing with the growing prevalence of diabetes.
Opportunity
Technological advancements which have led to the development of biologics that can be utilized for transdermal delivery of drugs are creating wide opportunities for the players operating in the topical drug delivery market. In addition to this, the larger players in the domain are increasingly acquiring smaller companies for gaining larger market share in the industry and for procuring their technologies.
Topical Drug Delivery Market Competitive Landscape
The surging burden of chronic diseases has resulted in the development of new medicines and collaborations amongst different companies for strengthening their position in the topical drug delivery market. For instance, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved Rhofade (oxymetazoline hydrochloride) manufactured by Allergen plc for the topical treatment of persistent facial erythema which is associated with rosacea in adults, in January 2017.
In addition to this, in December 2016, Sienna Biopharmaceuticals Inc. announced regarding the acquisition of Creabilis plc, a company which focused on the development of treatments for inflammatory diseases, such pruritus, dermatitis, and psoriasis. The acquisition was done to procure the patented and first-in-class late-stage clinical candidates, such as topical Phase IIb topical tropomyosin receptor kinase A (TrkA) inhibitor (SNA-120, formerly CT327) and topical TrkA/janus kinase 3 (JAK3) inhibitor (SNA-125, formerly CT340) for treating skin conditions including pruritis and psoriasis.
Some other major players operating in the global topical drug delivery market are SOLVAY S.A., Cipla Limited, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Novartis International AG, Crescita Therapeutics Inc., Bayer AG, Galderma S.A., Janssen Global Services LLC (Johnson and Johnson), and Sienna Biopharmaceuticals.
