Chronic Pain Management Market
Chronic pain can range from mild body aches to severe pains associated with conditions like cancer, arthritis, lupus or MS. Treatment is achieved by treating the symptoms, treating the source or a combination of both.
The management of pain using medications starts with over the counter analgesics or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Drugs such as Aspirin represents the 1st step for many people seeking relief. If OTC drugs do not relieve the pain, patients can seek out prescription pain relief including non-narcotic, narcotic or anti-inflammatory drugs.
In his short description of the mechanism behind chronic nerve pain, Dr Pradeep Chopra states “The main goal of LDN is to slow or halt the progression of disease. In addition, symptoms may improve. Improvements seen in pain include decreases in exacerbation of pain, symptom improvement, improved functioning and better tolerance to pain.”
Consequently, when quantifying the size of the market, this article posits that LDN is a sub-sector of the pain management market.
The overall market for pain management medications is mature and the statistics well understood. The US market for prescription pain management medicines was $18 billion in 2017. Growth of just over 7% pa is projected through 2022, at which point the market is projected to total $25.5 billion.
Factors that influence growth through 2022 include:
- An increasing number of cancer, autoimmune and chronic pain patients.
- A higher percentage of elderly people in the population.
- Improved survival rates of patients with critical diseases.
Source: BCC Research – The Global Market for Pain Management Drugs & Devices
Pain Management Market and LDN
There are 4 conditions (applications) in the BCC report that could be addressed by LDN: fibromyalgia, cancer pain, neuropathic pain and HIV/Aids pain. The market for pain management for these 4 conditions was $4.7 billion in 2017 and is projected to reach $6.9 billion in 2022.
Extrapolating the population growth statistics, it is possible to estimate the local market size for prescription pain management medications.
If your community pharmacy catchment area addresses a population of 200,000 people, the size of the market for prescription pain management for fibromyalgia, cancer, neuropathic and HIV/Aids is projected to be $4.1m in 2022. That is not to say that LDN is a $4.1m opportunity for your business, rather you could get a share of the opportunity by marketing and promoting your business.
For every 100,000 people, the prescription pain management market for the 4 listed conditions (fibromyalgia, cancer, neuropathic and HIV/Aids pain) was $1.46m in 2017 and projected to grow to $2.1m in 2022.
