Over the last decade the targeted therapies and immunotherapies class has fuelled growth in the oncology market, making it very attractive to drug developers aspiring to the commercial success of top brands such as Avastin (bevacizumab; Roche/Chugai), Rituxan (rituximab; Roche/Biogen Idec/Chugai/Zenyaku Kogyo), Herceptin (trastuzumab; Roche/Chugai) and Gleevec (imatinib; Novartis).
Dr Thomas Gray, senior healthcare analyst at Datamonitor, comments; “As a growing number of companies strive to enter this space, competition will inevitably become intense as more agents in the class reach the market.”
“Whilst this is bad news for new entrants, Datamonitor predicts that sales of currently marketed drugs in this class will increase to reach $37 million by 2019, a compound annual growth rate of 6.6% on 2009 sales of $19.5 million.”
Growth will be driven by the continued adoption of targeted therapies and immunotherapies in their current approved indications, approvals in new indications and regional expansion. However, the Datamonitor report also warns that increasing pharmacoeconomic pressures will dampen sales growth of drugs in the market as they tend to command a high price. Other resistors to growth include the generic erosion of some key brands from 2015 onwards and the possible market entry of biosimilar versions of certain monoclonal antibody brands.
Thomas concludes: “The key market drivers far outweigh the factors impacting on growth; however, effective lifecycle management will be critical in order to ensure the future commercial success of targeted therapies and immunotherapies currently on the market”.
Thomas Gray is available for comment. To arrange an interview or for further details regarding this release please contact Joe Dixon in the Datamonitor press office on + 44 (0)161 238 4083, or email jdixon@datamonitor.com
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