NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Diabetes drugs are the next big sector for Big Pharma, according to a new report.

Drug sales in the area of diabetes treatment are expected to double the pace of overall drug sales over the next six years, according to a report from Bernstein Research.

Diabetes-related drug sales are expected to jump 12 percent annually through 2011 worldwide, compared to industry-wide drug sales growth of 6 percent, said the Bernstein report. U.S. sales of diabetes drugs are expected to jump 15 percent annually.

The report said that 90 percent of the growth will fall to large cap companies, including Merck & Co., Pfizer Inc, Novartis, Eli Lilly & Co., GlaxoSmithKline, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi-Aventis, Novo Nordisk, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Astra-Zeneca. (See drug sector stocks.)

Diabetes became one of the top 10 therapeutic markets in 2004, when sales of diabetes-related drugs exceeded $12 billion, the report said. From 2004 to 2011, the diabetes market is expected to account for 8 percent of total drug industry growth and will increase from 3 percent to 5 percent of total drug sales, the report said.

The report was authored by Bernstein analysts Richard Evans, Gbola Amusa, Devesh Gandhi, Daniel Kranson and Courtney Le Vine.