COVID-19 pandemic interferes with treatments in female health space: GlobalData

The report also states that this may impact the demand and 2Q sales for commonly prescribed drugs involved in the IVF process

The American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) issued guidance on fertility treatments during COVID-19 and called for the suspension of most new treatment cycles such as IVF. Furthermore, The European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) has advised women not to undergo IVF treatment during the pandemic. This may impact the demand and 2Q sales for commonly prescribed drugs involved in the IVF process, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData, more than 1,268,000 assisted reproductive technology (ART) cycles were projected to occur across the US, UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, France and Japan in 2020, and sales of gonadotropins, used during fertility treatments, were forecast to reach $1.37B in 2020.

Kelly Lambrinos, Senior Pharma Analyst at GlobalData, comments, “The female health space is faced with pauses in certain fertility treatments due to the pandemic. A potential two to three-month pause in IVF treatments could lead to a noticeable drop in assistive reproductive technology (ART) cycles for the year, which is unwelcome news for couples trying to conceive.

“With each monthly IVF treatment cycle consisting of several sequential stages involving daily, self-injected hormonal preparations, the ASRM and ESHRE’s guidance will impact the demand and 2Q sales for commonly prescribed drugs involved in the process. The most notable and highest-earning gonadotropins include Gonal-F (follitropin alpha), Follistim (follitropin beta), Menopur (menotropins), Rekovelle (follitropin delta), biosimilars Bemfola (follitropin alfa) and Ovaleap (follitropin alfa).”