Urology Market

As the world’s population ages and lives longer lives, diseases of the urinary tract are becoming more prevalent and having greater impacts on the quality of patient’s lives. As a consequence of these huge unmet medical needs, new drugs introduced into the Urology market such as Viagra® and Detrol® have been huge financial successes for Pharmaceutical companies and their investors.

Some current unmet medical needs in Urology

Overactive Bladder, or OAB is a term used to describe a condition in patients characterized by urinary urgency, with or without urge urinary incontinence and frequent urination, both during the day and at night. The domestic market for drugs used to treat OAB currently exceeds $1.4 billion and consists primarily of anti-cholinergic (anti-muscarinic) drugs such as Ditropan XL® (oxybutynin) and Detrol® LA (tolterodine). Presently, patients treated medically for OAB often do not comply with treatment because of the limited efficacy and bothersome side effects of the currently available drugs.

Lower Urinary Symptoms (LUTS) is associated with Benign Prostate Hypertrophy (BPH), becomes more common as men age and is one of the most common reasons that men seek medical attention. As men age, the prostate continues to grow and can constrict the urethra and reduce the flow of urine when the patient goes to the restroom. Alpha blockers such as Cardura® help increase the flow rate of urine and 5 Alpha-reductase inhibitors such as Proscar® can help shrink the size of the prostate. Alternatively, the Urologist has several surgical options that reduce the size of the prostate and increase urine flow through the urethra. However, the feeling of sudden urgency experienced by many patients has a severe impact on the quality of their lives and no good treatment options currently exist.

Interstitial Cystitis or “painful bladder” is a chronic inflammatory condition of the bladder that results in chronic pain and urgency. Often misdiagnosed as an unrelenting urinary tract infection, patient’s lives are seriously impacted. As diagnosis improves, it is being discovered that this population is much more common that previously suspected and numbers in the millions worldwide.

For more about disease of the urinary tract, visit the American Urology Association http://www.auanet.org/guidelines/ or European Urology Association http://www.uroweb.org/ .