A therapeutic area review of oncology products and players

Abstract

This article reviews the dynamics of the oncology market and treatment trends and provides strategic guidance to those concerned with new product discovery and development. Cancer is the therapeutic area of highest potential, with an annual market value expected to be in excess of US$40 billion in 2020. The global incidence of cancer cases is forecast to more than double over the next 20 years. Investments in research and development will keep pace with the growing demand for effective treatments, aiming to fulfil the many and often discrete unmet medical needs. Recent breakthroughs promise more successful outcomes, particularly with the advent of more selective chemotherapy and novel therapeutic approaches. Among the latter, a number of angiogenesis inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) should show encouraging levels of efficacy by 2004. Oncology is a complex and high-risk therapeutic area that offers high rewards. It is appropriate for only the stronger or more focused serious players within the pharmaceutical industry. The winners will be the companies with a long-term strategic intent, a credible portfolio and engagement in appropriate alliances, particularly in discovery. The future presents ethical, clinical and commercial challenges, given the wide disparity of therapeutic outcomes among cancer patients around the world. The real success will thus be to treat cancer in innovative ways that benefit everyone and are, in volume and across the life cycle, commercially attractive to the treatment provider.

• alliances
• chemotherapy
• clinical development
• ethics
• gene therapy
• immunotherapy
• market dynamics
• novel approaches
• strategic marketing
• vascular therapy