Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic disorder characterized by movement abnormalities and other non-motor symptoms, such as dementia, depression, visual hallucinations, and autonomic dysfunction. Although not fatal, there is currently no cure for the disease, and its chronicity is associated with significant morbidity and disability.
Diabetic nephropathy, also known as diabetic kidney disease, is caused by damage to small blood vessels which can cause the kidneys to be less efficient in their blood filtration role or to fail altogether.
Diabetes mellitus is a group of chronic endocrine disorders characterized by hyperglycemia due to insufficient levels or action of insulin, a hormone responsible for regulating blood sugar. Symptoms include excessive excretion of urine (polyuria), thirst (polydipsia), constant hunger, weight loss, vision changes, and fatigue. In the long term, the disease can also cause disabling and lifethreatening complications such as cardiovascular disease (CVD), nerve damage (neuropathy, which along with peripheral vascular disease can lead to amputations), kidney damage (nephropathy), and eye disease (leading to retinopathy, loss of vision, and potentially blindness). If untreated, life-threatening conditions can develop, including diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), particularly in type 1 diabetes, and the hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state in type 2 diabetes
The current dynamics of the antipsychotic market show domination by atypical antipsychotics, mainly oral agents, but there is also increasing uptake of long-acting injectable (LAI) neuroleptics, which will continue. Oral atypical antipsychotics that were historical blockbusters are now facing intense generic erosion. The highest-selling oral antipsychotic is Latuda, one of the newer atypical drugs, but its market exclusivity is only set to last until 2023.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory, autoimmune disease characterized by neuronal demyelination leading to physical and cognitive disability.
While it is not uncommon to experience feelings of sadness occasionally, in most people these emotions are usually fleeting and pass after a few days. When this manifests in a depressive disorder, a patient’s symptoms interfere with daily life and normal functioning. Depression is the leading cause of disability globally and can cause a multitude of symptoms, many of which are associated with impairment and, ultimately, decreased productivity
Epilepsy is characterized by recurrent, unprovoked seizures, and is one of the most common chronic neurological disorders globally. A seizure is a transient manifestation of signs and/or symptoms, including a disturbance of consciousness, emotion, behavior, or motor function, which occurs because of abnormal excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain.
BD is a multifactorial psychiatric mood disorder influenced by social, environmental, and genetic risk factors underlying its etiology. The disorder is characterized by fluctuating mood states, such as mania and depression, interspersed with periods of wellbeing over days and weeks. BD describes a range of disease subtypes, including BD type I, BD type II, and cyclothymia.
Anemia in chronic kidney disease (CKD), defined as a reduction in red blood cells (RBCs) or hemoglobin levels, often results from decreased levels of erythropoietin and increased levels of hepcidin. Erythropoietin is primarily produced in the kidneys and increases the production of RBCs by acting on precursor cells. H
Atopic dermatitis (AD), also known as atopic eczema, is a chronic, pruritic, relapsing inflammatory dermatological condition. The condition usually begins during early infancy and childhood, but can persist into, or start during, adulthood.
First-line treatment of milder forms of psoriasis will continue to be with cheaper, topical medications. Use of more expensive, systemic therapies will continue to be relegated to more severe psoriasis.
Seasonal influenza is an acute viral infection that is spread by person-to-person transmission. Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, circulates worldwide and can affect anyone in any age group, although annual epidemics peak during winter in temperate climates.
Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae) is a bacterium that can cause multiple types of pneumococcal disease, including bloodstream infections (sepsis), pneumonia, meningitis, and other milder diseases such as sinusitis and otitis media. The severity of pneumococcal disease is characterized as invasive or non-invasive, with invasive pneumococcal disease being more severe as the bacterium can be isolated from ordinarily sterile sites (eg blood or cerebrospinal fluid), and requires hospital treatment.
Meningococcal meningitis is caused by the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis, which causes a serious infection to the lining surrounding the brain and spinal cord. In all, 12 known serogroups of Neisseria meningitidis have been identified, six of which (A, B, C, W, X, and Y) can cause epidemics. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported around 1 in 10 people are asymptomatic carriers of the bacteria.
Dengue virus is a member of the Flaviviridae family, which are also known for causing other diseases including yellow fever, West Nile virus, and tick-borne encephalitis. There are four serologically distinct dengue viruses (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, and DENV-4), meaning that recovery from infection provides immunity against a specific serotype, but there is little to no cross-immunity towards other serotypes. As a result, a person can be infected multiple times in their lifetime, with subsequent infections being more likely to be severe due to a phenomenon called antibody-dependent enhancement of disease.
The human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, is a retrovirus that infects the cells of the immune system such as T lymphocytes, specifically cluster of differentiation-4+ T cells, dendritic cells, and macrophages.
Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is defined as a cancer of the blood in which a mutation in myeloid hematopoietic stem cells causes the overproduction of immature and dysfunctional white blood cells (myeloblasts, also known as blasts), preventing the normal production and function of healthy white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets.
The CLL treatment paradigm has changed significantly over the past five years, with targeted therapies such as Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors and BCL-2 inhibitors displacing chemotherapy-based treatments for most patients who have CLL.
AML is a type of heterogeneous hematological malignancy that originates from immature white blood cells (blasts) in the bone marrow, which may be derived from either a hematopoietic stem cell or a lineage-specific progenitor cell. “Acute” means that the leukemia may progress rapidly – AML generally spreads quickly to the bloodstream and can then spread to other parts of the body including the lymph nodes, spleen, central nervous system, and testicles.
Follicular lymphoma (FL) is an indolent subtype of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) specifically originating from centrocyte and centroblast B cells and usually beginning in the lymph nodes. The disease is among the most common forms of NHL alongside diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), accounting for approximately 35% of all NHLs.
Prostate cancer occurs when malignant cells originate in the prostate gland. The vast majority of prostate cancers are adenocarcinomas, but other less common types include sarcomas, small cell carcinomas, neuroendocrine tumors, and transitional cell carcinomas. Some prostate cancers can grow and spread quickly, but many are relatively indolent. Because of this, depending on patient age and other co-morbidities, some prostate cancer patients may not receive active treatment for the disease during their lifetime.
Multiple myeloma (MM) is a hematological malignancy characterized by the infiltration of malignant, antibody-producing plasma cells in the bone marrow. The disease represents approximately 1% of all cancers, and 10% of hematological cancers. The hallmarks of MM are high levels of monoclonal (M-) protein, high levels of clonal plasma cells in the bone marrow, and organ damage.
Melanoma accounts for just 1% of all skin cancer cases, but is responsible for the majority of skin cancer-related deaths. Melanoma occurs when melanocytes – pigment-producing cells of the skin that are intercalated in the basal cell layer – become malignant. Although surgical excision is a potentially curative option for many melanoma patients, the disease can disseminate rapidly. Currently, only 27.3% of patients diagnosed with distant metastatic melanoma survive for five years, compared to about 99.0% of those with localized disease. Although 83% of patients present with localized disease, approximately one quarter to one third of these patients will eventually experience disease recurrence.
Liver cancers can be differentiated based on the cell types they affect. The most common form of liver cancer is hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which accounts for 80–90% of liver cancer cases. HCC affects hepatocellular cells, or hepatocytes, which are the most abundant cell type in the liver and are responsible for the liver’s primary functions, such as bile production, protein synthesis, and detoxification. This differentiates HCC from other types of liver cancer such as cholangiocarcinoma, which affects the epithelial cells lining the bile ducts, and angiosarcoma, which affects the endothelial cells lining blood vessels of the liver.
Stomach or gastric cancer (GC) refers to any cancer arising in the lining of the stomach. The vast majority (95%) of these cancers are adenocarcinomas, and can be further grouped by anatomic origin. The clearest etiological distinction exists between adenocarcinomas of the gastric cardia (the anterior edge of the stomach surrounding the entry point of the esophagus), and those arising in the other anatomical subsites of the stomach – the fundus, body, pylorus, and the antrum. In most cases, gastric adenocarcinomas will begin in the muscularis mucosae and submucosa, then invading deeper lamina of the gastric wall.
Colorectal (or bowel) cancer refers to carcinomas arising in the epithelium of the large intestine at any point between the cecal valve and the anus. CRC typically develops through the proliferation of mucosal epithelial cells of the gastrointestinal (GI) wall, eventually forming a polyp or adenoma. As with many other cancers of the GI tract, the vast majority (>95%) are adenocarcinomas.
Ovarian cancer is defined as a group of tumors that originate in the ovaries. Most ovarian cancers are epithelial carcinomas which begin in the tissue surrounding the ovary. Other less common types of ovarian tumors include primary peritoneal, fallopian tube, and malignant germ cell tumors. Ovarian cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women, and is the leading cause of gynecological cancer-related death in women.
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a relatively rare breast cancer subtype. It is characterized by the absence of estrogen and progesterone receptors and does not involve the overexpression of HER2. TNBC is associated with poor prognosis, a high risk of local recurrence, and poor disease-free and cancer-specific survival. It accounts for roughly 14% of breast cancers.
Hormone receptor-positive (HR+) is the most common breast cancer subtype, with approximately 70% of breast cancers presenting with overexpression of estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors, or both (De Placido and Pronzato, 2015). Overexpression of the hormone receptors allows estrogen and progesterone to drive tumor growth and proliferation. Therefore, endocrine therapy remains the standard treatment for advanced patients with HR+/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HER2-) breast cancer.
Amplification of the HER2/neu oncogene and related genetic elements on chromosome 17 increases HER2 expression and accelerates tumorigenesis. The natural disease progression meant that, historically, women with breast cancer who overexpressed HER2 were found to have significantly shorter disease-free survival and overall survival compared with women without HER2 amplification; however, the introduction of trastuzumab in 1998 drastically changed patient outcomes, to the point where HER2+ breast cancer patients now have the longest median survival of all breast cancer subtypes. HER2 is overexpressed in approximately 20% of breast cancers.
Head and neck cancers (HNCs) are defined as any cancer that begins in cells of the oral cavity, pharynx, nose, sinuses, or salivary glands. These cancers are grouped together due to historical similarities in etiology, disease presentation, and manifestation. The vast majority of these cases (90%), collectively referred to as head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs), appear in squamous epithelial cells lining the mucous membranes of these regions. The exception to this is salivary gland cancer, which can appear in any of the salivary glands’ diverse cell types.
Pulmonary arterial hypertension is one of a group of rare and life-threatening diseases collectively known as pulmonary hypertension (PH). Each PH subgroup shares similar pathophysiology, clinical presentation, and therapeutic approaches.
Stroke is the second most common cause of death and a major cause of disability worldwide. A stroke occurs when there is a blockage or bleed in the cerebrovascular system that leads to either a neurological deficit persisting beyond 24 hours or death.
Chronic heart failure (CHF) is a progressive condition in which the heart muscle is unable to pump enough blood to meet the needs of the body. CHF can result from functional abnormalities such as ventricular dysfunction or arrhythmias, or structural disorders of the myocardium or valves.
Cystic fibrosis, caused by mutations in cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) protein, is a rare and life-limiting genetic disorder that is characterized by thick, sticky mucus and pulmonary complications.
The “ABCD” GOLD treatment guidelines focus on exacerbation risk and patient-reported outcomes to determine pharmacological treatment strategies, independent of spirometric value. Dual bronchodilator combinations are being considered as the new gold standard over long-acting muscarinic antagonist Spiriva in the treatment of more severe COPD.
Sign up to the Pharma Intelligence Report Store Newsletter to get the latest blogs, news, reports and discounts!