The recent trend in drug development of shifting away from one-size-fits-all cancer medications to targeted therapies, which is the key to personalized medicine, points to the value of and monetary benefits of developing drugs that target the molecular levels of cancer cells.
Although personalized medicine may limit the number of patients who will benefit from a targeted drug, it can help the company in terms of reimbursement, despite the high price tag, because payers can feel confident that a drug will actually work in the patients specifically designated for that therapy, according to Barclays Capital analyst Tony Butler.
Another aspect of this trend is that, once the drug is approved, drug manufacturers are then conducting new research in the attempt to expand the original US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) indication to new indications in the hope of increasing the drug’s market share.
One such example, according to Mr Butler, involves the new studies conducted by Johnson & Johnson for its drug abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) for use before chemotherapy in men with localized, high-risk prostate cancer (see article here). The drug was approved by the FDA last year for treatment of metastatic prostate cancer in men who had already undergone chemotherapy. If the FDA approves a new indication based on these latest results, it could push the sales for abiraterone acetate to >$2 billion in 2015, thereby doubling the projected sales of $1 billion for 2012, Mr Butler predicted.
Numerous pharmaceutical companies are in the process of developing new targeted drugs for a variety of cancers, some of which will likely be accompanied by a companion diagnostic test, representing yet another revenue stream. Loftus P. Wall Street J. May 15, 2012.
