Allergic Conjunctivitis (AC) – Common disorder with increasing prevalence

Allergic Conjunctivitis (AC) is a common eye disorder characterized by the inflammation in the tissue that lines the inside of eyelid and outside of the eyeball called conjunctiva. It usually happens when a person’s eyes come into contact with an allergen, a substance that makes the body’s immune system to overreact. Allergic conjunctivitis is an exclusive term that encompasses seasonal allergic conjunctivitis (SAC), perennial allergic conjunctivitis (PAC), vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC), and atopic keratoconjunctivitis (AKC). Allergic conjunctivitis is further segmented as acute and chronic, among which acute allergic conjunctivitis cases are found to be more prevalent as compared to the chronic cases.

Among 7MM, the total diagnosed prevalent cases of allergic conjunctivitis in 2016 were found out to be ~64,000,000, out of which the highest diagnosed prevalent cases of AC were seen in the United States, followed by EU5 and Japan. Among EU5 countries, Germany has the highest prevalent population of AC, followed by Italy. Spain accounts for the lowest number of prevalent cases. Males are twice as often affected than females with allergic conjunctivitis.

United States accounts for the highest market size of AC as compared to Japan and EU5 countries. The Market size of AC was about USD 1,582 million in 2016 in 7MM. The market size of Allergic Conjunctivitis is expected to grow with the launch of upcoming therapies such as Zerviate (Nicox Pharma), Reproxalap Ocular (ADX-102) (Aldeyra Therapeutics), PRT-2761 (ORA, Inc.), OTX-DP (Ocular Therapeutix, Inc), DE114A (Santen Pharma) and Bilastine (Faes Farma). Reproxalap Ocular (Aldeyra Therapeutics), expected to launch in the U.S. and Europe, is believed to be the most successful therapy amongst all the expected drug candidates for the treatment of AC.

Due to increasing prevalence major pharmaceutical companies are actively developing drugs for the treatment of AC. United States has the lion’s share currently and is expected to maintain the lead in the future too. Having promising drugs in the clinical development it is expected that all the unmet needs in the respective domain will soon be taken care of. With ever changing market dynamics it will be interesting to see which product will be able to keep up with the pace and capture the maximum market share of AC.

Harshit Saini

Associate Analyst