Abstract
Sleeper diseases comprise a broad spectrum of increasingly recognized
conditions with various degrees of neuropsychiatric involvement. Many of these
conditions are now clearly defined, earning them increasing acceptance as real
disorders that can and should be addressed by pharmacotherapy.
Several of these emerging sleeper diseases share key properties that make them
highly interesting for the pharmaceutical industry:
- They are well defined and "real" beyond any reasonable doubt, although
their etiology might be unknown or scientists' understanding of them might be
highly incomplete.
- They affect a considerable number of otherwise healthy individuals in ways
that significantly compromise their quality of life, social functioning, and
professional accomplishments.
- They respond to treatment with currently available medications (or at
least some of their constituent aspects do to a limited degree), and novel
drugs (frequently based on genetic insights that reveal possible targets) are
being investigated on the basis of scientifically defendable working
hypotheses.
In this report, five syndromes the author believes will develop into
significant pharmaceutical markets through 2015 have been evaluated.
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