Drugmakers To Benefit From Improved Management Of Diabetes
BMI View: The high prevalence and poor management of diabetes in Mexico present sizable opportunities for multinational pharmaceutical companies. Although local authorities have allocated significant resources to address this issue and urge Mexicans to change their lifestyles, diabetes treatments from Sanofi and Novo Nordisk, which have significant presence in the country, will generate strong revenue growth in the short and medium terms.
Diabetes has long been Mexico's number one health problem, as a result of increasingly unhealthy lifestyles and rising obesity levels. According to estimates from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), over 10mn Mexicans, or 9% of population, suffer from the metabolic condition. Mexico had the sixth most cases of diabetes in the world and its diabetes prevalence ranked the top in 2012. BMI's Burden of Disease Database (BoDD) shows that disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost to diabetes ranks the highest among communicable and non-communicable diseases in the country. Mexico's DALYS lost to diabetes totalled over 30% of the total diabetes DALYs in Latin America. Diabetes is the country's most common cause of mortality in adults, and the number one cause of hospital discharge in the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS).
Given the high diabetes mortality rate and the lack of control among diagnosed patents, poor disease management of diabetes has become a major concern in Mexico. A survey carried out by Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica reported that although the treatment coverage for type 2 diabetes is high (94%), only 5% of patients diagnosed with the disease are fall under the 'maintaining the condition well' category - in terms of haemoglobin A1c (HbA1C) measurement (which should be below seven). The study showed that of the majority of patients being treated with anti-diabetic medication: 85% are receiving anti-diabetic agents, 7% are on insulin only and 3% are on combination of both, and 6% are treated with no medication.
|Highest Diabetes Prevalence In The World|
|Top Ten Countries In Terms Of Number of People with Diabetes (mn) (LHS) & Diabetes Prevalence (%) (RHS)|