Injectable anti-HIV therapies could see strong growth

The market for injectable anti-HIV therapeutics will be worth $28 billion by 2029, according to projections from the analyst and consulting firm GlobalData.

GlobalData valued the broader HIV therapeutics market at $22.9 billion in 2019 across the U.S., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, U.K. and Japan.

While the overall market is growing at a low single-digit rate, injectable therapies will likely see more brisk growth, GlobalData projects.

To date, the majority of HIV therapies are orally delivered antiretroviral drugs, although a handful of injectable drugs have been introduced over the years.

Future injectable anti-HIV therapies could be administered less frequently than oral drugs. One early injectable anti-HIV therapy, Fuzeon (enfuvirtide) from Roche (OTCMKTS:RHHBY), is administered multiple times per day, posing a challenge for adherence. FDA approved the drug in 2003.

GlobalData projects that sales of injectable therapies for HIV will exceed $1.8 billion by 2029.

The European Medicines Agency recommended the first long-acting injectable antiretroviral therapy for HIV last year. The recommendation related to a combination of the drugs Rekambys (rilpivirine) and Vocabria (cabotegravir), which Johnson & Johnson’s (NYSE:JNJ) Janssen unit developed. The FDA approved the injectable formulation of rilpivirine and cabotegravir in January.

Other injectable anti-HIV therapies will be available by 2029, said Magdalene Crabbe, a senior GlobalData analyst, in a statement. Crabb pointed to leronlimab from CytoDyn (OTCMKTS:CYDY) and lenacapavir from Gilead Sciences (NSDQ:GILD) as examples of drugs likely to hit E.U. and U.S. market in coming years.