The returns on investment from orphan drugs are expected to help pharma companies overcome the impact of revenue loss due to expiry of patents of blockbuster drugs, according to ReportsnReports.com.

Its report Global Orphan Drug Market Outlook 2018 said the major drivers for companies to increasingly invest in orphan drugs include government incentives for drug development and strong support from the FDA and E.U. Commission in special protocols. Despite the obstacles pharma companies face in this field, this segment of orphan drugs is likely to have the potential to provide the key to recovery and stability within the market.

Orphan drugs enjoy significant competitive advantages in the market, including a market exclusivity period after the drug has been authorized, which gives the manufacturer a monopoly status in the market because no other company can market the orphan drugs. In addition, no other alternative health technology exists for many orphan drugs.

The report Global Orphan Drugs Market 2014-2018 forecasts the industry to grow at 5.67% to 2018 The report covers the Americas, and the EMEA and APAC regions; and the dominating sponsors including Novartis, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Celgene, Pfizer and Sanofi.

In recent years, the pharmaceutical industry has been experiencing a paradigm shift. While a large pool of patients was considered a major source of revenue for pharma companies in the past, the focus now is gradually shifting to small sections of patients suffering from rare diseases. In U.S. and Europe, this pool of patients gradually is growing and orphan drugs are becoming an extremely attractive business proposition for the pharmaceuticals industry.

With close to 65 million to 70 million people in the U.S. and Europe diagnosed with a rare disease, the increasing development of orphan drugs implies the appropriate treatments for unmet needs are increasing, thus increasing the profit margins in the future. As the Asian pharmaceutical markets still are in growth stage, the opportunities for orphan drugs in Asia also are immense and are getting increasingly popular. It is expected that by 2020, the Asian orphan drugs market will witness steady growth.