Psoriasis is a chronic non-contagious disease in which a person’s immune system sends
faulty signals directing skin cells to grow too quickly. New skin cells forms in days rather
than weeks resulting in their pilling up on the surface of the skin, causing patches of
psoriasis. Most of the time it also affects fingers and nails resulting in painful disfiguration
and partial disability. Psoriasis affects mostly knees, elbows, and scalp, but other body parts
may also be affected. Thus, it has a heavy negative effect on the quality of life and results
in social stigma. Although it can occur at any age but most commonly it occurs in the age
group of 50–70. The exact cause and etiology of psoriasis is still unknown but usually auto-
immunity, genetics and environmental factors are involved. Psoriasis is also associated with
a host of co-morbidities such as psoriatic arthritis, ophthalmologic pathologies, diabetes,
inflammatory bowel disease etc. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1.3%
to 34.7% of individuals with psoriasis develop chronic psoriatic arthritis which may lead to
joint deformations and disability. From 4.2% to 69% of all patients suffering from psoriasis
develop nail changes. WHO also predicts that psoriasis affects about 100 million people with
prevalence rates ranging from 0.09% to 11.43% in different countries. Plaque psoriasis is
the most common form of psoriasis affecting 90% of all cases of psoriasis.
Rise in screening and growing prevalence of psoriasis remains the most critical market
driving factor of the Global Psoriasis Treatment Market. In general an upward trend is
observed in several countries throughout the world. For example data from the national
health and nutrition examination survey revealed that in United States prevalence of
psoriasis increased from 1.62% to 3.10% from 2004 to 2010.
The other market driving factors for the global Psoriasis Treatment Market is growing
awareness, rise in risk factors such as autoimmune diseases, diabetes etc. and greater
exposure to environmental factors such as chemicals, allergens etc. The market’s
constraints include lack of effective and permanent treatment for the disorder. There is no
cure for psoriasis and most treatment is either symptomatic or is temporary in nature.
Other market restraints include high cost of drug development, patent expiry of a number of
blockbuster drugs such as humira, enbrel and remicade etc, side effects associated with
present medications such as hypertension, liver and kidney damage etc. The high cost of
drugs coupled with their low efficacy and the advent of biosimilars also hampers the growth
of the market.
The latest market trends include huge potential reflected by novel acting biologics such as
TNF-α inhibitors, IL-17 inhibitors etc. The psoriasis treatment market also favors companies
with a strong research pipeline. Thus novel drug development especially involving biologics
will be the best strategy and will lead to fast growth of the market along with least