Last Updated 25 November 2014
Schizophrenia is an often disabling psychiatric disease whose core treatment consists of antipsychotic therapy lasting from years to a lifetime. With at least nine different atypical antipsychotic molecules available in most of the major markets under study (United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, and Japan) and many more typical antipsychotic options, new entrants must differentiate themselves to garner a foothold in the market. Sales of premium-priced emerging therapies will not overcome sales of top-selling antipsychotics lost to generic erosion during our 2013-2023 study period; however, the continued uptake of long-acting depot formulations of atypical antipsychotics will help stabilize the overall market. The schizophrenia market will grow from $5.9 billion in 2013 to $6.4 billion in 2017 as a result of launches and continual uptake of newer-to-market agents and continued uptake of long-acting depots, followed by a decline in sales to $6.1 billion in 2023 due to generic erosion of key players across the major markets. The most-promising therapies in development include two novel atypical antipsychotics (Otsuka/Lundbeck’s brexpiprazole and Actavis [formerly Forest Laboratories]/Gedeon Richter/Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma’s cariprazine) and two new depot formulations of current antipsychotics (Janssen’s paliperidone palmitate [three-month formulation] and Alkermes’s aripiprazole lauroxil [ALKS-9070]).