Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) - A market yet to reach its full potential
RSV mostly causes upper respiratory tract infections (URTI), resulting in the common cold. However, in certain risk groups, RSV can cause more severe lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) leading to bronchiolitis. These risk groups include elderly people, patients with underlying pulmonary or cardiac disease, premature infants, children under four years old and immunocompromised patients.
Some physicians do not value the importance of a correct RSV diagnosis, since there is no effective treatment available. Furthermore, the American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend routine testing for RSV in bronchiolitis. However, there are reasons why proper diagnosis should be considered, and there is a range of tests available for that.
The RSV market is currently dominated by MedImmune's Synagis, a prophylactic monoclonal antibody. As RespiGam's successor, Synagis was first launched in 1998 and now has sales of around $750 million per RSV season. Due to its high costs though, Synagis is only prescribed to a very limited group of individuals.
Although the most important unmet need in RSV is an effective treatment or vaccine, many companies have discontinued their developments in this field. Only two companies have an RSV treatment in clinical development (Novartis/Arrow Therapeutics and Alnylam) and MedImmune dominates the limited vaccine development.
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