The progressive pulmonary fibrosis (PPF) market across the seven major markets (7MM*) is forecast to grow from $1.3 billion in 2025 to $2.7 billion in 2035 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.6%, according to GlobalData, a leading intelligence and productivity platform.
GlobalData’s latest report, “Progressive Pulmonary Fibrosis: Seven-Market Drug Forecast and Market Analysis 2025-2035,” reveals that the anticipated growth is mainly driven by the launch of Jascayd (nerandomilast) in the five major European markets (5EU**) and Japan, in addition to four new pipeline drugs expected to launch before 2035.
Connor Daniels, Healthcare Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “This pipeline is expected to offer safer treatment options for patients, including inhaled add-on therapies to assist the current standard of care. This could reduce the reliance on a limited number of antifibrotic therapies with considerable tolerability issues, specifically gastrointestinal disturbances. Furthermore, an enhancement of efficacy is anticipated with the pipeline, as demonstrated by an improvement in the rate of forced vital capacity (FVC) decline compared to the current marketed therapies.”
In 2025, the PPF market was dominated by a single drug, Boehringer Ingleheim’s (BI) asset Ofev (nintedanib), which is considered the gold standard disease modifying option. BI’s Jascayd entered the US market in Q4 2025, offering the first novel entrant into a relatively stagnant market. Further approvals in PPF are expected, with admilparant anticipated to launch in 2027 and Tyvaso in 2029, both in the US.
Daniels adds: “While oral antifibrotics are the current gold standard, they do not completely reverse or halt progression, highlighting the need for newer drugs that can make an impact on disease progression.”
PPF remains an indication with untapped potential for drug developers, with only two marketed assets (Ofev and Jascayd) and one off-label treatment (Esbriet). The most significant unmet need identified by key opinion leaders (KOLs) interviewed by GlobalData, as well as high-prescribing clinicians, was the lack of treatment options that offer therapeutic efficacy beyond slowing FVC decline and the limited treatment options available with poor tolerability. This further highlights the need for more research until treatments can meaningfully alter the prognosis of patients, PPF will remain a disease that is managed rather than modified.
The most recent reported data from clinical trials for the late-stage pipeline is highly encouraging and likely to challenge the dominant position of the current market leaders. Some of the most promising drugs anticipated to launch during the forecast period are Bristol Myers Squibb’s admilparant, United Therapeutics’ Tyvaso (treprostinil), Insmed’s treprostinil palmitil, and Avalyn Pharma’s AP-01, offering both oral antifibrotics and inhaled therapies that employ different mechanisms of action.
Inhaled delivery is intended to reduce systemic exposure and therefore provides improved tolerability compared to oral antifibrotics. However, PPF remains a challenging indication for drug developers due to the heterogeneity of the indication, making it difficult to demonstrate the efficacy of new therapies in clinical trials.
Daniels concludes: “The PPF market will still be constrained by several barriers, most notably the entry of generics for nintedanib and nerandomilast, which offer cheaper alternatives to their branded originators as well as to pipeline drugs. Additionally, the adoption of pipeline drugs by clinicians is likely to be slow due to limited clinical experience with the novel mechanisms of action, coupled with anticipated high treatment costs leading to access restrictions, especially when used in combination with the current standard of care.”
*7MM; the US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, and Japan
**5EU; France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK
