Targeted Lung Cancer Therapies Supplanting Conventional Treatments, Says Report

With only 18 drugs currently on the market, the lung cancer therapeutics area is offering "vast potential for drug manufacturers", says a new report from Frost & Sullivan. The report states that approximately "130 drugs for the treatment of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are in various stages of development and are expected to hit the market by 2020".

A Product and Pipeline Analysis of the Lung Cancer Therapeutics Market reveals that both niche and established drug manufacturers are devoting resources to the R&D of targeted therapies, "which are likely to replace conventional medicine within the next ten years".

Big pharma companies such as AstraZeneca, Roche, Merck and BMS are in a particularly close race to produce effective drugs targeted at PD-L1 pathway and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK), adds the report. BMS is the first company to introduce its drug candidate for the PD-L1 pathway, having already launched Opdivo (Nivolumab) in Japan.

However, says Frost & Sullivan Healthcare Research Analyst Sumedha Pareek, "the development of targeted therapies for mutations such as kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog (KRAS), human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER) and BRAF is yet to pick up pace. The market is also in need of cost-efficient drugs.”

For further informastion, click here.