How to use this tool
Select one of the six conditions on this grid to better understand how they differ in terms of disease burden and geography, availability of therapies both marketed and in the pipeline, and how incidence changed between 2010 and 2019. The other dots represent additional disease states our research compared but are not detailed here.
See insights
Relationship between investment and global disease burden
Burden
Investment
Respiratory diseases and infections
Infectious disease
Cancers
Mental and substance abuse disorders
Musculoskeletal
Neurological
Opioid abuse disorder
Rheumatoid arthritis
HIV
Alzheimer’s disease
Parkinson’s disease
Prioritize immediate investment
Prioritize improved access
Prioritize future investment
Areas of overinvestment
COPD
Market density
Pipeline density
products
products
United States
High-income countries
Low- to
middle-income countries
DALY
Change in DALY
1,000
1,000
1,000
Compare diseases
Prioritize future investment
Areas of overinvestment
Prioritize improved access
Prioritize immediate investment
Parkinson’s disease
Rheumatoid arthritis
HIV
COPD
Opioid abuse disorder
Alzheimer's disease
Back
Compare disease burden with market and product density across geographies
Treatment outlook
Burden outlook
Treatment outlook
Burden outlook
Treatment outlook
Burden outlook
Treatment outlook
Burden outlook
Treatment outlook
Burden outlook
Treatment outlook
Burden outlook
The top number represents the absolute DALY for each disease within that geography, while the bottom number represents the number of years of life lost per 1,000 people in
that geography.
Existing medications and treatments are moderately effective, but don’t halt disease progression. Investment in treatments tackling progression may help keep disease burden from climbing off the charts.
Although the disease burden is currently low for Parkinson’s across geographies, it’s growing at higher rates than many other conditions. At advanced stages, patients require highly specialized care.
Rheumatologists have many effective medications at their disposal to treat rheumatoid arthritis. The market density for treatments is also high and product density in the pipeline is moderate. Medications are generally viewed as effective and safe. It’s worth asking if investment in this therapy area could be reallocated elsewhere.
The disease burden for rheumatoid arthritis is low but increasing slightly across geographies, as are other inflammatory diseases like irritable bowel disease. It’s common for these inflammatory diseases to share treatments. Short of a cure for these diseases, incremental investment offers increasingly diminishing returns on disease burden.
Short of a cure, existing HIV treatments and prophylactic treatments like PrEP are highly effective at reducing transmission. However, these medicines are not widely available in lower- and middle-income countries. A long-acting injection or vaccine for HIV would help mitigate access barriers but hopes for the latter remain slim.
The burden of HIV is dropping in the U.S. and
higher-income countries. But lower- and middle-income countries are experiencing high burdens, driven by poor access to effective treatments, especially new ones.
Early stages of the disease can be controlled with existing medications but efficacy in advanced stages is not well established. Products are needed that both improve quality of life and control exacerbations, especially at late stages. Additionally, broader efforts to improve air quality resulting from large-scale pollution must be prioritized to reduce disease incidence and severity.
COPD’s disease burden is high across all the geographies and is bound to keep growing, especially in lower-income countries where smoking and vaping rates are rising and where air quality remains poor. These rates and increased DALY warrant prioritizing
immediate investment.
Several treatments are gaining wider acceptance. However, reducing the burden will require easy-to-access, at-home dosing to limit relapse occurrence. It is equally imperative to study non-opioid pain medications to stem
this epidemic.
The high and growing burden of opioid abuse disorder in the U.S. means that it should be targeted for immediate investment, given that both the market and pipeline density to treat this epidemic are low.
Today, drug development for Alzheimer’s has a 99% failure rate, though this has changed slightly with the approval of Leqembi. Because most current medications don’t halt disease progress, a disease modifying medication could have a profound impact.
The already high disease burden of
Alzheimer’s is expected to grow as populations age, increasing the burden on patients
and caregivers.
Diseases are grouped based on the share of the global products they represent into high, medium and low density levels.
We compared DALY data from 2010 against DALY data from 2019.
DALY refers to disability-adjusted life years (DALY), a commonly used metric to quantify disease burden. DALYs for a disease or health condition are the sum of the years of life lost due to premature mortality and the years lived with a disability due to prevalent cases of the disease or health condition in a population.
Pipeline density
Market density
Change in DALY
DALY
Low- to middle-income
High-income
United States
Low- to middle-income
High-income
United States
Alzheimer’s disease
Opioid abuse disorder
COPD
HIV
Rheumatoid arthritis
Parkinson’s disease
Compare the number of pipeline products
Compare the number of marketed products
Compare the global disease burden across countries
Back
These numbers represent the percentage of change in the total number of disability-adjusted life years between 2010 and 2019.
Each number represents the total number of disability-adjusted life years per
1,000 people.
DALY refers to disability-adjusted life years (DALY), a commonly used metric to quantify disease burden. DALYs for a disease or health condition are the sum of the years of life lost due to premature mortality and the years lived with a disability due to prevalent cases of the disease or health condition in a population.
What is DALY?
Diabetes and digestive
Back
Compare the number of pipeline products
DALY
Change in DALY
Market density
Pipeline density
United States
High-income countries
Low- to middle-income
Alzheimer’s disease
Opioid abuse disorder
COPD
HIV
Rheumatoid arthritis
Parkinson’s disease
Low- to middle-income
High-income countries
United States
Compare global disease burden
Compare the number of marketed products
Number of products in the pipeline
Number of marketed products
DALY refers to disability-adjusted life years (DALY), a commonly used metric to quantify disease burden. DALYs for a disease or health condition are the sum of the years of life lost due to premature mortality and the years lived with a disability due to prevalent cases of the disease or health condition in a population.
What is DALY?
These numbers represent the percentage of change in the total number of disability-adjusted life years between 2010 and 2019.
Each number represents the total number of disability-adjusted life years per
1,000 people.
Back
Compare disease burden with market and product density across geographies
Prioritize immediate investment
Prioritize improved access
Areas of overinvestment
Prioritize future investment
Compare diseases
DALY
Change in DALY
Market density
Pipeline density
products
products
Rheumatoid arthritis
HIV
COPD
Opioid abuse disorder
Alzheimer's disease
Parkinson’s disease
United States
High-income countries
Low- to
middle-income countries
Burden outlook
Treatment outlook
1,000
1,000
1,000
DALY refers to disability-adjusted life years (DALY), a commonly used metric to quantify disease burden. DALYs for a disease or health condition are the sum of the years of life lost due to premature mortality and the years lived with a disability due to prevalent cases of the disease or health condition in a population.
We compared DALY data from 2010 against DALY data from 2019.
Diseases are grouped based on the share of the global products they represent into high, medium and low density levels.
The already high disease burden of
Alzheimer’s is expected to grow as populations age, increasing the burden on patients
and caregivers.
Today, drug development for Alzheimer’s has a 99% failure rate, though this has changed slightly with the approval of Leqembi. Because most current medications don’t halt disease progress, a disease modifying medication could have a profound impact.
The top number represents the absolute DALY for each disease within that geography, while the bottom number represents the number of years of life lost per 1,000 people in
that geography.
Treatment outlook
Burden outlook
Treatment outlook
Burden outlook
Treatment outlook
Burden outlook
Treatment outlook
Burden outlook
Treatment outlook
Burden outlook
Several treatments are gaining wider acceptance. However, reducing the burden will require easy-to-access, at-home dosing to limit relapse occurrence. It is equally imperative to study non-opioid pain medications to stem
this epidemic.
The high and growing burden of opioid abuse disorder in the U.S. means that it should be targeted for immediate investment, given that both the market and pipeline density to treat this epidemic are low.
Short of a cure, existing HIV treatments and prophylactic treatments like PrEP are highly effective at reducing transmission. However, these medicines are not widely available in lower- and middle-income countries. A long-acting injection or vaccine for HIV would help mitigate access barriers but hopes for the latter remain slim.
Burden is dropping in the U.S. and
higher-income countries. But lower- and middle-income countries are experiencing high burdens, driven by poor access to effective treatments, especially new ones.
Early stages of the disease can be controlled with existing medications but efficacy in advanced stages is not well established. Products are needed that both improve quality of life and control exacerbations, especially at late stages. Additionally, broader efforts to improve air quality resulting from large-scale pollution must be prioritized to reduce disease incidence and severity.
COPD’s disease burden is high across all the geographies and is bound to keep growing, especially in lower-income countries where smoking and vaping rates are rising and where air quality remains poor. These rates and increased DALY warrant prioritizing
immediate investment.
Rheumatologists have many effective medications at their disposal to treat RA. The market density for treatments is also high and product density in the pipeline is moderate. Medications are generally viewed as effective and safe. It’s worth asking if investment in this therapy area could be reallocated elsewhere.
The disease burden for rheumatoid arthritis is low but increasing slightly across geographies, as are other inflammatory diseases like irritable bowel disease. It’s common for these inflammatory diseases to share treatments. Short of a cure for these diseases, incremental investment offers increasingly diminishing returns on disease burden.
Existing medications and treatments are moderately effective, but don’t halt disease progression. Investment in treatments tackling progression may help keep disease burden from climbing off the charts.
Although the disease burden is currently low for Parkinson’s across geographies, it’s growing at higher rates than many other conditions. At advanced stages, patients require highly specialized care.
