Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) Market

The commercial opportunities for BBB penetrating drugs are immense. I believe that if a drug developer has a viable technology and has established the necessary proof-of-concept, there is tremendous potential in terms of revenue generation

- Chief Operating officer, a Canada based Small-sized Company

Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) Market

The blood brain barrier (BBB) market is estimated to be worth $940 million in 2030 and is expected to grow at CAGR of 154% during the forecast period. According to a study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), diseases that affect the central nervous system (CNS), such as Alzheimer’s disease, brain cancer, multiple sclerosis. Parkinson’s disease and stroke, are characterized by a significant unmet need for effective treatment options. In 2019, it was reported that nearly 1.5 billion people suffer from some form of disorder affecting the CNS across the globe. In fact, the incidence of CNS disorders is anticipated to increase by 12% by 2030. In 2019, nearly 5.8 million Americans were reported to have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Similarly, Parkinson’s disease was estimated to affect nearly one million people in America, with approximately 60,000 new patients being diagnosed every year. Further, experts believe that there is a critical relationship between recent pandemic of novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems. People suffering from certain CNS complications are at a relatively higher risk of COVID-19 infection due to a compromised immune system.

It is estimated that CNS disorders are responsible for a healthcare burden of nearly USD 2 trillion, in the US and Europe. Developing viable therapies against the aforementioned clinical conditions is largely complicated due to the elusive blood-brain barrier (BBB), a selectively permeable structure, which is very effective in preventing the foreign substances including drugs, to penetrate into the brain. It has been reported that over 1,000 currently available / under development drugs targeting CNS disorders do not have the potential to target specific brain receptors responsible for the disease progression due to the hindrance by the BBB. Considering the serious physical, cognitive and psychosocial consequences that such indications have on patients, coupled to the alarming increase in their global prevalence, there is an urgent need for novel and effective treatment options that can cross the BBB. 

Over time, extensive R&D efforts have resulted in the development of a number of versatile BBB penetration technologies. These technologies have been designed either to externally alter the permeability of the BBB or augment the BBB penetrating capabilities of compatible pharmacological interventions. As a result, presently, there is a lot of enthusiasm within the medical science community related to these technologies. The growing interest in this field is also evident in the fact that over 1,200 modern scientific articles have been published (as observed on NCBI’s PubMed portal) over the last three years alone. However, it is worth mentioning that there are currently no approved BBB penetrating drugs available in the market. Currently, this niche market is driven by technology licensing activity, with drug developers collaborating with platform providers to grow their respective therapeutic pipelines. In fact, over the last 4-5 years, there has been a marked rise in the number of new entrants in this field. We anticipate this upcoming market to witness substantial market growth during the forecast period.

Recent Developments in Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) Market:

Several recent developments have taken place in the field of blood brain barrier (BBB) market. We have outlined some of these recent initiatives below. These developments, even if they took place post the release of our market report, substantiate the overall market trends that have been outlined in our analysis.

• In August 2023,  Chiesi  entered into a co-development agreement with Aliada Therapeutics with an aim to advance blood-brain barrier-crossing platform technology in lysosomal storage disorders. 
• In May 2023, Zion Pharma announced global agreement with Roche in order to develop and commercialize a blood brain barrier penetrant oral her2 tyrosine kinase inhibitor.

Key Companies in Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) Market

Examples of key companies engaged in blood brain barrier market (which have also been profiled in this market report; the complete list of companies is available in the full report) include Angiochem, ArmaGen, Denali Therapeutics, ICB International, Lauren Sciences, BioArctic, Cyclenium Pharma, Iproteos, Medesis Pharma, Ossianix, Vect-Horus and JCR Pharmaceuticals. This market report includes an easily searchable excel database of all the companies providing blood brain barrier technologies and therapeutics, worldwide.

Scope of the Report

The ‘Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) Market, 2020-2035: Focus on Non-Invasive Drug Delivery Technology Platforms and Therapeutics (2nd Edition) (based on Receptor Mediated Transcytosis, Trojan Horse, and Nanoparticle based Approaches)’ market report features an extensive study of the current market landscape, market size, market share, market growth, market trends, market value, market forecast, market outlook, statistics and future opportunities of the blood brain barrier (BBB) market. The market research report features an in-depth analysis, highlighting the diverse capabilities of stakeholders engaged in blood brain barrier (BBB) market. In addition to other elements, the market research report includes:

• An overview of the overall landscape of BBB penetration technologies, featuring an in-depth analysis of the technologies based on a number of parameters, such as status of development (developed and under development), affiliated approach, type of compatible pharmacological molecule(s) crossing the BBB (small molecule and biologic), target receptor(s), target disease indication(s), patent availability, and licensing activity. In addition, it presents a detailed assessment of BBB technology developers and analyses based on parameters, such as year of establishment, company size, and location of headquarters.
• A detailed assessment of the current market landscape of BBB penetrant drugs (based on the abovementioned technologies), providing information on drug developer(s) (such as year of establishment, company size, and location of headquarters), phase of development (clinical, preclinical, and discovery stage), type of molecule (small molecule and biologic), affiliated BBB penetration technology, route of administration (oral, intravenous, transmucosal and others), target disease indication(s), key therapeutic area(s), and information on special drug designation (if any). 
• Identification of contemporary market trends, depicted using three schematic representations, which include [A] a tree map representation of the various industry players involved in the development of BBB penetrant drugs, distributed on the basis of the target disease indication(s) of pipeline candidates and size of the companies (small, mid-sized and large companies), [B] a bubble analysis comparing the leading players engaged in the development of BBB penetrant drugs, on the basis of parameters such as pipeline strength (based on the number of drug candidates developed by a particular company, across different phases of development), number of target disease indication(s) and the size of the developer company, and [C] an informative heptagon representation, highlighting the distribution of BBB penetrant drugs across popular target disease indication(s) (based on the number of drug candidates across each target disease indication).
• An insightful competitiveness analysis of BBB penetration technologies, taking into consideration the supplier power (based on company size and years of experience in this field) and key technology specific information, such as type of compatible pharmacological molecule(s) crossing the BBB, availability of patent protection, number of deals signed for a particular technology (2014-2020 (till March)), and popularity of the technology (in terms of the number of drugs developed using the technology).
• Elaborate profiles of prominent technology developers that are engaged in the development of at least four drugs (which are presently in both preclinical and clinical stages of development), featuring a brief overview of the company, its financial information (if available), BBB penetration technology overview, BBB penetrant product portfolio and an informed future outlook. 
• An analysis of the partnerships that have been established in blood brain barrier (BBB) market, in the period between 2014 and 2020 (till March), covering product licensing agreements, technology licensing agreements, acquisitions and mergers, product development and commercialization agreements, research and development agreements, manufacturing agreements, service agreements and other agreements.
• An elaborate discussion on the deal structures of various types of technology licensing agreements inked in blood brain barrier (BBB) market, including details of the rights associated with product ownership, associated royalties and upfront payments, and other contractual terms / conditions involved as a part of the agreement between various industry stakeholders.
• An analysis of the investments made in blood brain barrier (BBB) market, in the period between 2014 and 2020 (till March), including seed financing, venture capital financing, debt financing, grants, capital raised from IPOs and subsequent offerings, at various stages of development in companies that are engaged in blood brain barrier (BBB) market.
• An in-depth analysis of the various patents that have been filed / granted related to BBB penetration technologies, till November 2019, taking into consideration various parameters, such as patent type, application year, issuing authority / patent offices involved, CPC symbols, emerging focus areas, type of organization and leading industry / academic players (in terms of size of intellectual property portfolio). It also includes a patent benchmarking analysis and a detailed valuation analysis.
• An insightful chessboard analysis highlighting the most preferred / popular drug development strategies / paths adopted by majority of the drug developers (with clinical candidates) in order to progress their lead drug candidates.
• An assessment of the most commonly targeted disorders affecting the CNS (shortlisted on the basis of number of BBB penetrant drugs in development), along with [A] an insightful 3D bubble chart highlighting the market potential of these disorders, based on the number of already approved drugs, number of pipeline drugs and the target patient population, and [B] an elaborate discussion on key epidemiological facts about specific diseases, causes, symptoms, details of BBB penetrant drugs that are being developed against them, currently available treatment options and details of already marketed drugs for each indication.
• A list of 240+ drug developers targeting Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease that are likely to partner with BBB penetration technology providers, and have been shortlisted on the basis of parameters, such as developer strength (based on company size and years of experience in this field), company’s pipeline strength and maturity (based on the number of drugs and affiliated stage of development), indication overlap, molecule type overlap, route of administration, mechanism of action, and the availability of in-house delivery technology.
• A case study highlighting the working principle of the most common approaches that are being employed for the development of BBB penetration technologies, such as receptor mediated transcytosis (RMT) (including bispecific antibodies and molecular trojan horse mediated delivery either by direct coupling or using nanocarriers), increasing permeability to the BBB, passive diffusion approach, and other novel approaches (including cell-penetrating peptides, macrocycles, and organ-on-a-chip technology).
• An informative analysis of contemporary Google Trends in the time period between 2015 and 2019 (till December) and insights generated from recent news articles related to the BBB, indicating the increasing popularity of blood brain barrier (BBB) market.

The key objective of blood brain barrier (BBB) market report is to provide a detailed market analysis in order to estimate the existing market size, market share, market growth, market trends, market value, market forecast, market outlook, statistics and future opportunity for blood brain barrier (BBB) market during the forecast period. Based on likely licensing deal structures and agreements that are expected to be inked in the foreseen future, we have provided an informed estimate of the evolution of the market for the forecast period 2020-2035. In addition, we have provided information on (potential) sales-based revenues generated by BBB penetrant drugs that are currently in late stages of development for the treatment of different CNS disorders, based on parameters, such as target consumer segments, likely adoption rates, expected pricing and associated risk-adjustment sales opportunity. The market report also features the likely distribution of the current and forecasted opportunity across [A] type of molecule (small molecules and biologics), [B] target disease indications (brain metastases in breast cancer, glioblastoma multiforme, Hurlers syndrome, and Hunter syndrome), [C] key contributing technologies, [D] leading drug developers, and [E] key geographical regions (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and rest of the world). In order to account for the uncertainties and to add robustness to our model, we have provided three market forecast scenarios, namely conservative, base and optimistic scenarios, representing different tracks of the industry’s growth. 

The opinions and insights presented in this market research report were also influenced by discussions conducted with multiple stakeholders in blood brain barrier (BBB) market. The market report features detailed transcripts of interviews held with the following individuals:

• Ram Bhatt (Chief Executive Officer, Chairman and Founder, Innovative California Biosciences International (ICBI)) 
• Frank S Walsh (Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Ossianix)
• Pieter Gaillard (Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, 2-BBB)
• Mathias Schmidt (Chief Executive Officer, ArmaGen)
• Rob Hutchison (Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, biOasis Technologies)
• Mark L Peterson (Chief Operating Officer, Cyclenium Pharma)
• Xavier Rivero (Chief Operating Officer, Sagetis Biotech)
• Carole Desseaux (Head of Clinical Affairs, CarThera)
• Jamal Temsamani (Head of Drug Development, Vect-Horus)
• Kevin Kit Parker (Professor, Wyss Institute, Harvard University)

All actual figures have been sourced and analyzed from publicly available information forums and primary research discussions. Financial figures mentioned in this market research report are in USD, unless otherwise specified.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question 1: What is blood brain barrier?

Answer: The blood brain barrier is a highly selective semipermeable lining of endothelial cells which regulates the movement of solutes between the central nervous system and the circulatory system.

Question 2: How big is the BBB market?

Answer: The BBB market size is estimated to be worth $940 million in 2030.

Question 3: What is the projected market growth of the BBB market?

Answer: The BBB market is expected to grow at compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 154% during the forecast period 2020 – 2030.

Question 4: Who are the leading companies in the BBB market?

Answer: Examples of key companies engaged in BBB market (which have also been profiled in this market report; the complete list of companies is available in the full report) include Angiochem, ArmaGen, Denali Therapeutics, ICB International, Lauren Sciences, BioArctic, Cyclenium Pharma, Iproteos, Medesis Pharma, Ossianix, Vect-Horus and JCR Pharmaceuticals.

Question 5: How many articles related to the blood brain barrier have been published over the last few years?

Answer: Over 1,200 modern scientific articles related to the blood brain barrier have been published over the last three years.

Question 6: How many companies are currently engaged in the BBB market?

Answer: More than 35 companies are currently engaged in the BBB market, offering therapeutic products and technologies capable of crossing the blood brain barrier.

Question 7: How many patents related to the blood brain barrier have been filed / granted till date?

Answer: Till date, more than 16,700 patents related to the blood brain barrier have been filed / granted till date.