Narcolepsy – Unmet Need – Unmet Need – Narcolepsy with or without cataplexy (US/EU)

Several therapies from a range of drug classes are available to address the symptoms of narcolepsy; these symptoms include excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and cataplexy. Despite the availability of several pharmacological treatments, a large proportion of patients have inadequate control of their narcolepsy symptoms. Recent years have seen the release of new oxybates, the most recent class launched for narcolepsy treatment, as alternatives to Jazz Pharmaceutical’s Xyrem. Jazz’s lower-sodium Xywav was approved by the FDA in 2020 and Avadel Pharmaceutical’s once-nightly Lumryz launched in the United States in 2023. Additional agents such as orexin receptor agonists are in development for narcolepsy. Drugs that can safely and effectively address narcolepsy symptoms, particularly in patients inadequately served by current options, represent a sizable market opportunity.

Questions answered

• What clinical / nonclinical attributes for a therapy will influence sleep specialists’ treatment decisions for narcolepsy patients?
• How do sleep specialists rate the performance of key current therapies on treatment drivers and goals for narcolepsy?
• What are the prevailing areas of unmet need in narcolepsy?
• What are the key opportunities for drug development in narcolepsy?
• How do sleep specialists’ preference and likelihood to prescribe vary across the set of user-defined Target Product Profiles in narcolepsy?

Product description

Unmet Need offers insight into key treatment drivers and goals, the performance of current therapies, and the remaining commercial opportunities, enabling you to:

• Evaluate clinical and nonclinical product attributes that influence treatment decisions through physicians’ weightings and analysis of stated vs. derived importance.
• Pinpoint areas of high unmet need by assessing current drug performance against key attributes and treatment drivers.
• Analyze market scenarios for different target product profiles using the TPP Simulator.

Key feature:

The TPP Simulator tool allows for customizable market simulations based on conjoint analysis that depicts how physicians make decisions based on actual behavior rather than opinion. Compare up to seven TPPs across multiple disease-specific attributes and price points to gauge which variables influence prescribing behavior.

Markets covered: United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany

Primary research: Survey of 60 U.S. and 30 European sleep specialists fielded in May and June 2025

Key companies: Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Avadel Pharmaceuticals, Axsome Therapeutics, Apotex, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Bioproject Pharma

Key drugs: Xyrem, Provigil, Wakix, Sunosi, Adderall, Lumryz, Ritalin, oveporexton