PETER HIRST
Head of Commercial, Advanced Delivery Systems, Recipharm, Stockholm, Sweden

Abstract

Peter Hirst, Head of Commercial, Advanced Delivery Systems at Recipharm, discusses the fast-changing pharmaceutical market landscape and explores the latest trends driving innovation in self-administered injectable drug delivery. Some trends that are pushing growth in this area are directly linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the need to ease the healthcare burden. These effects will continue to be felt well into 2022, so now is the time for pharmaceutical companies to take action in order to overcome the challenges self-administration brings about, and ensure that their technology puts them in the best position to create opportunities and benefits in this space.

According to a report released in January 2022, the global market for self-administered injectable drug delivery is expected to exceed more than US$119 billion by 2024, growing at a CAGR of 22.5% over the course of the forecast period (1).

Several key trends are cited in these reports as spurring this growth, including the growing incidence of autoimmune diseases and the expansion of biologic drugs to treat them. Biopharmaceutical treatments typically require parenteral administration, due to the inherent nature of biologic active ingredients. Growth in diagnoses of age-related chronic conditions, such as diabetes, is also driving an increase in demand for self-administered injectable drugs.

These are not the only factors driving growth in the self-administered injectable drug delivery segment, however. The fallout from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is also driving change and innovation in the space, and will have a major effect on injectable drug developers in 2022.

THE IMPACT OF COVID-19
Worldwide, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has placed considerable strain on national healthcare syst ...