Cancer Immunotherapy Market: Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors, Cancer Vaccines, and Adoptive T-cell Therapies
United States (PRWEB) September 16, 2014 -- Cancer Immunotherapy Market: Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors, Cancer Vaccines, and Adoptive T-cell Therapies is a new market research report announced by Reportstack. This report focuses on the three principal types of therapeutics that have become the major focuses of research and development in cancer immunotherapy (which is often called "immuno-oncology") in recent years: Checkpoint inhibitors, Therapeutic anticancer vaccines and Adoptive cellular immunotherapy.
The regular use of immunotherapy for treatment of cancer, which had been an elusive dream for over 100 years, has very recently become a "hot" area, with intense competition between biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to be the first to market the newest, most effective therapies.
The great majority of the excitement the immuno-oncology field is due to the development of novel immune checkpoint inhibitors. For example, in a March 24, 2014 FierceBiotech article (based on a Wall Street Journal analysis), analysts predicted that the anti-PD-1 agents nivolumab and Merck’s pembrolizumab, as well as the anti-PD-L1 agent MPDL3280A, might be approved by the FDA before the end of 2015. They also projected that the three drugs would peak at about $12.5 billion a year.
Other analysts recently projected that the cancer immunotherapy market will increase to nearly $9 billion across the world’s major pharmaceutical markets by 2022. They also projected that taken together, BMS’ ipilimumab (Yervoy), BMS/Ono’s nivolumab, Merck’s pembrolizumab, Genentech/Roche/Chugai’s MPDL3280A and MedImmune/AZ’s MEDI4736 will dominate the immuno-oncology market and capture an 85% market share in 2022.
Both of these market analyst groups predict that nivolumab will be the sales-leading agent among checkpoint inhibitors. We believe that it is too early to make such predictions. Prior to the aggressive strategic moves that have positioned Merck’s pembrolizumab in first place in the race to commercialize an anti-PD-1 agent, it was easy to anoint nivolumab as the expected leader in immuno-oncology sales. However, now the outcome of the race between nivolumab, MK-3475, and MPDL3280A will depend on the results of clinical trials, and on FDA and EMA action. Nivolumab will face direct and intense competition from pembrolizumab (especially in malignant melanoma and NSCLC)—and, perhaps from MPDL3280A in non-small-cell lung cancer. Especially if the results on the efficacy of MPDL3280A in NSCLC in smokers hold up in later clinical trials, the competition by MPDL3280A in NSCLC may be greater than expected.
Experts in the immuno-oncology market show much less enthusiasm for cancer vaccines than for checkpoint inhibitors. Analysts project that the cancer therapeutic vaccines segment of the market will have sales of $1.2 billion in major pharmaceutical market countries in 2022. However, this projection is based on the prediction that five specific vaccine products will join sipuleucel-T (Dendreon’s Provenge) as marketed products by 2022.
These five vaccines include two that failed in Phase 3 clinical trials, and which the companies that are developing them are trying to revive. The clinical data on the efficacy of a third vaccine is still too preliminary to draw any conclusions. Given these factors, and other uncertainties such as manufacturing difficulties for personalized dendritic vaccines, the degree of accuracy of any projections for the cancer vaccine market is likely to be very low. It is a safe bet, however, that the size of the cancer vaccine market will not approach that of the checkpoint inhibitor market by the 2020-2022 period.
As discussed earlier, T-cell based adoptive immunotherapy for cancer has been difficult to commercialize, and has thus remained in the hands of the NCI and other academic cancer centers. As a result, patient access has also been difficult—for example, TIL therapy is not reimbursed by third-party payers. And the market for ACT has received scant attention from analysts.
However, as ACT technologies and development efforts have matured in the last several years, the potential for commercialization of these therapies has grown. For example, we have identified several leading adoptive T-cell therapies in commercial development.
The ACT market for cancer should be worth billions of dollars within the next 5-10 years. For example, Lion Biotechnologies estimates that its TIL therapy for melanoma will have peak sales of $1 billion. This is before development of next-generation TIL therapies.
One analyst estimates that Novartis’ CAR-based therapy CTL019 has the potential to reach $10 billion a year, if approved to treat multiple forms of CD19+ cancer, and if Novartis can overcome the manufacturing challenges associated with all cellular immunotherapies. Other analysts are more skeptical, citing the complexity of manufacturing and administering CTL019, as well as the potential emergence of competitive treatments. Competition has already been emerging in CLL. Based on these factors, one analyst believes that CTL019 is likely to be used as a salvage treatment, and that it will have limited commercial potential.
However, CTL019 is only one of at least several adoptive immunotherapy products in the clinic. Thus, provided that adoptive immunotherapy developers can overcome the manufacturing, administration, and distribution challenges that affect the field as a whole, ACTs should constitute a multi-billion dollar market by 2020. The high degree of efficacy seen with several adoptive immunotherapies, with the potential for long-term durable responses and cures not seen with other types of therapies, should drive commercial interest in the field.
In conclusion, immuno-oncology is expected to be a game-changing approach to treating cancer. It may well constitute a new mode of cancer treatment, alongside surgery, chemotherapy (including treatment with cytotoxic and/or targeted drugs), and radiation therapy. Immunotherapies may eventually be used in as many as 60% of cases of advanced cancer, and are likely to see their first applications in melanoma, NSCLC, and B-cell malignancies. Either alone or in combination therapies, immunotherapies may produce long-term remissions and even cures (especially if TIL and recombinant T-cell therapies can be successfully developed and commercialized) for cancers that have been uniformly fatal until very recently. Thus immuno-oncology is an important and rapidly emerging field, which deserves the attention it has been receiving in recent years.
The complete report or more details about this report can be found by visiting cancer immunotherapy market report.
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