Causes of the Economic Burden

• According to the Journal of Affective Disorders, the $202.1 billion economic burdens imposed on the United States economy by bipolar disordered persons (BD) are comprised of direct healthcare costs, non-healthcare costs, and indirect costs.
• The total costs are broken down to an average value of $81,559 per individual, while the excess costs of bipolar 1 disorder (BDI) were valued at $119.8 billion, resulting in an average of $48,333 per individual.
• The most significant contributors to the burden are;
• Caregiving: 36%
• Direct healthcare costs: 21%  
• Unemployment: 20%.
• The direct healthcare cost is broken down into the cost incurred by insured and non-insured persons. This burden lies on the government's money to insurance companies and the average medical costs for the uninsured.
• Direct non-healthcare costs are the cost of BD related research and substance abuse-related expenditures.
• Indirect costs are made up of costs associated with "productivity loss from unemployment, reduced productivity at work, productivity loss from premature mortality (for all-cause and suicide-related deaths), and caregiving costs."

Research Studies

• A publication on the "Healthcare needs of remitted patients with bipolar disorder" suggests that economic and welfare-benefits, company, information, daytime activities, and physical healthcare needs were mostly unmet for people with BD.
• A second study on the "Unmet needs of bipolar disorder patients" provides a breakdown of the unmet needs of people with BD into five different groups, which include needs connected with;
•  Symptoms control  
•  Treatment  
•  Quality of life  
•  Family  
•  Pharmacotherapy  
• The opportunities related to the symptoms control needs include "the development of a more rapid-acting treatment with better side-effect profiles, to identify drugs for the adequate management of resistant bipolar depression, resistant mania, rapid cycling, and mixed states, and to determine pharmacological treatments targeting the cognitive deficits in BD."
• The composition of the remaining unmet needs (treatment, quality of life, family, and pharmacotherapy) are provided herein.

Summary

• The business opportunities in the bipolar disorder industry can be leveraged by solving the above-listed problems associated with the industry.
• Analysis of the academic publications relating to the unmet needs of bipolar patients reveals that the industry's business strategy will come from providing;
• 1. A rapid treatment with lesser side effects.
• 2. A better treatment targeting cognitive deficits in BD
• Tools/technology for;
• 1. Improving the health condition of bipolar patients
• 2. improving medication adherence of bipolar patients
• 3. Monitoring bipolar patients and sending feedbacks to caregivers or healthcare providers
• 4. Help bipolar patients carry out their work more efficiently.