Lack of Available Patients for Testing Limits Development of Breast Cancer Drugs
2007 JUL 3 -- Decision Resources, Inc., one of the world's leading research and advisory firms focusing on pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that although there are a plethora of targeted agents in the drug development pipeline, identifying available breast cancer patients to test the new agents is a problem. According to the new Pharmacor report entitled Breast Cancer, Pfizer's Sutent -- which is in clinical trials -- could knock Roche/Chugai/Genentech's Avastin out of the breast cancer drug market. Sutent, a small molecule VEGF inhibitor, is identified as having great promise with sales forecasted to be in excess of $1.5 billion in 2016, and will help Pfizer become a major player in the oncology drug market. "Sutent, an approved agent for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma, is currently under investigation in several Phase III trails in breast cancer, and will be launched into the breast cancer market place in 2009," said Joanne Graham, Ph.D., director at Decision Resources. "We forecast impressive sales for this multi-targeted agent and thought leaders report enormous enthusiasm and huge potential for this oral drug." The report also finds that the patent expiry of multiple agents in the breast cancer market is the most significant constraint to growth. Key drugs that will be subject to generic price erosion throughout the forecast period include Sanofi-Aventis' Taxotere, Roche/Chugais' Xeloda, Lilly's Gemzar, AstraZeneca's Arimidex, Novartis' Femara, and Pfizer's Aromasin. Reimbursement of costly targeted agents will limit their uptake, particularly in cost-constrained markets, such as the United Kingdom. However, as multiple high-priced drugs become available and their use in combination is indicated, reimbursement will increasingly be a barrier to uptake in all markets. Reimbursement will be particularly problematic for use of such agents in late stage disease, if only modest clinical gains are achieved. Keywords: Biotechnology Business, Biotechnology Company, Breast Cancer, Breast Carcinoma, Clinical Trial Research, Drug Development, Genentech Inc., Oncology, Pfizer, Pharmaceutical Business, Pharmaceutical Company, Pharmaceuticals, Sunitinib Maleate, Sutent, Therapy, Treatment, Women's Health, Decision Resources Inc. This article was prepared by Cancer Weekly editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2007, Cancer Weekly via NewsRx.com.
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