If you follow Evaluate’s regular white papers and blogs, you may be familiar with our annual report that investigates the state of the orphan drug market. I’ve been involved in analyzing that data for the past three years, and have just finished the process for this year’s report which will be published soon.

One of the key areas we always look at is the difference in the pace of growth between the orphan drug market and the wider pharma space. For several years, orphans have been significantly outpacing the rest of the industry, but that lead has been narrowing. I don’t want to issue too many spoilers at this stage but I can confirm that we’re expecting this trend to continue. This year’s report takes our forecasts out to 2030 and by that point, the lead will be down to just 1%.

Another data point we monitor is orphans’ share of the overall market. Again, there’s been a consistent trend for several years as that share has increased in our forecasts. By the end of the decade, Evaluate Pharma forecasts suggest that one in five drugs on the market will have a significant orphan component to their sales, based on Evaluate’s methodology. The regulatory advantages that orphans receive are based on the premise that these are niche therapies that require additional support to get to market, but there’s not much “niche” about over $330bn in sales in 2030.

There’s a lot to consider so I’m very much looking forward to taking part in a webinar to discuss the report and its insights on March 11th. I’m joining the report’s author and industry expert Melanie Senior to look at the highlights of the data. To help us consider the day-to-day issues around orphans, we’ll also be joined by William Lewis, Chair and CEO at Insmed.

As well as the data, we’ll investigate how, as orphan drugs begin to look a lot more like their conventional counterparts (at least commercially), elements like lifecycle management are becoming more important. We’ll also take a look at the changing policy environment, and ask just how important orphan designation is for companies as they develop new therapies.

There will be lots to discuss, and we’ve already had a lot of questions in advance from people who’ve registered for the session. If you’d like to join, you can find all the details here. I hope to see you there!