Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals Inc. (fka RCPIQ)

[Buddhahead]

Global osteoarthritis drug market set to grow to $5.5 billion with a CAGR of 1.5% by 2016 in the Pharma Letter, no author cited, April 2010

Article:
"The global osteoarthritis therapeutics market was estimated to be worth $5 billion in 2009 and is expected to grow to $5.5 billion with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.5% by 2016, according to a new report from GlobalData.

This growth is primarily attributed to the aging population, resulting in a high incidence and prevalence of the disease, and also pipeline product launches such as SMC021 and PF-4383119. Globally, the USA remains the largest market for osteoarthritis therapeutics, and was valued at $2.6 billion in 2009. It is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 1.6% over the next seven years to reach $2.9 billion by 2016.

Increase in disease population to drive the sector

The prevalence rate for osteoarthritis globally was 10.1% or approximately 75.8 million people. It is expected to increase from 75.8 million in 2009 to 82 million in 2016. The main reason for this is the high incidence rate in the aging population. Osteoarthritis is mainly prevalent in elderly persons. A significant increase in osteoarthritis incidence has occurred over the past few years. In addition a rapid increase in the obese population will also contribute to the increase of the incidence of osteoarthritis.

Low treatment seeking rate is major barrier
The poor treatment seeking rate is one of the main barriers to the growth of the market. The early detection of osteoarthritis can improve patients quality of life but there is often a lack of awareness about the disease, says GlobalData. Therefore, in 2009, the treated population was only slightly more than a quarter of the diseased population. However, the treatment seeking population is expected to grow at a slow rate during the period from 2009 to 2016, it concludes.

Article at:
http://www.thepharmaletter.com/article/global-osteoarthritis-drug-market-set-to-grow-to-5-5-billion-with-a-cagr-of-1-5-by-2016

Role of inflammation in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis: latest findings and interpretations
Jeremy Sokolovecorresponding author and Christin M. Lepus,
April 2013

Abstract"
"Osteoarthritis (OA) has traditionally been classified as a noninflammatory arthritis; however, the dichotomy between inflammatory and degenerative arthritis is becoming less clear with the recognition of a plethora of ongoing immune processes within the OA joint and synovium. Synovitis is defined as inflammation of the synovial membrane and is characteristic of classical inflammatory arthritidies. Increasingly recognized is the presence of synovitis in a significant proportion of patients with primary OA, and based on this observation, further studies have gone on to implicate joint inflammation and synovitis in the pathogenesis of OA. However, clinical OA is not one disease but a final common pathway secondary to many predisposing factors, most notably age, joint trauma, altered biomechanics, and obesity. How such biochemical and mechanical processes contribute to the progressive joint failure characteristic of OA is tightly linked to the interplay of joint damage, the immune response to perceived damage, and the subsequent state of chronic inflammation resulting in propagation and progression toward the phenotype recognized as clinical OA. This review will discuss a wide range of evolving data leading to our current hypotheses regarding the role of immune activation and inflammation in OA onset and progression. Although OA can affect any joint, most commonly the knee, hip, spine, and hands, this review will focus primarily on OA of the knee as this is the joint most well characterized by epidemiologic, imaging, and translational studies investigating the association of inflammation with OA."

Article at:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3638313/

My comments:
Osteoarthritis is listed as a RCPI target application.