The Cancer Immunotherapy Market Will Capture Major-Market Sales of Over $13 Billion In 2023 and Will be Dominated by Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

BURLINGTON, Mass., June 4, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Decision Resources Group finds that the cancer immunotherapy market will experience an impressive 29% annual growth over the forecast period and will reach $13.3 billion in 2023 across the seven major markets (United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom and Japan). Growth will be fuelled by successive label expansions of Bristol-Myers Squibb/Ono Pharmaceutical's Opdivo (nivolumab) and Merck & Co.'s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in new cancer indications and/or patient populations and by the expected launches of eight novel cancer immunotherapies, including four immune checkpoint inhibitors and four therapeutic vaccines. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (totaling seven agents) will claim a staggering 91% share of the cancer immunotherapy market in 2023.

Other key findings from the Special Report entitled Cancer Immunotherapies:

• We forecast that Opdivo will be the sales-leading agent among immune checkpoint inhibitors—and indeed, cancer immunotherapies—closely followed by Keytruda; their respective major-market sales will reach $3.7 billion and $3.4 billion in 2023.
• Among the nine oncology indications that we forecast immunotherapy sales, NSCLC will be the most commercially lucrative; the majority of immune checkpoint inhibitor sales will be realized in NSCLC owing to the large number of drug-treatable opportunities in this coveted indication.
• Experts interviewed by Decision Resources Group have not yet reached a consensus on whether PD-L1 expression should be used as a predictive biomarker for anti-PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors, not least because clinically beneficial responses to these agents have been reported in patients who exhibit no or low levels of PD-L1 expression.
• Multiple developers are forging collaborations to evaluate combinatorial approaches involving immune checkpoint inhibitors as a strategy for differentiation in what promises to be a crowded market; interviewed experts are hopeful that combination strategies will lead to better efficacy outcomes than single-agent approaches, although they are wary of toxicities that might arise from combination regimens.

Comments from Decision Resources Group Principal Business Insights Analyst Khurram Nawaz, M.Sc.:

• "Cancer immunotherapy is one of the most exciting fields of research in oncology, and successful drug development in this space offers a highly lucrative opportunity for drug developers. We are witnessing a drug development frenzy that is driving rapid expansion of the pipeline across an array of oncology indications."
• "Although interviewed experts voice greatest enthusiasm for immune checkpoint inhibitors, the launch of four therapeutic vaccines across three indications—prostate cancer, glioblastoma multiforme, and malignant melanoma—will diversify treatment options in subpopulations of these indications."

Additional Resources:

• Khurram Nawaz has written a blog on the subject, which can be found here.
• Decision Resources Group will present a webinar based on this report entitled "The Impact of Immunotherapies in Oncology"

For more information on purchasing this report, please email [email protected].

About Decision Resources Group
Decision Resources Group offers best-in-class, high-value data, analytics and insights products and services to the healthcare industry, delivered by more than 700 employees across 15 global locations. DRG companies provide the pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, financial services and payer industries with the tools, insights and advice they need to compete and thrive in an increasingly complex and value-based marketplace. DecisionResourcesGroup.com.

Media contact:

SHIFT Communications
Rosie Hale
617.779.1893
[email protected]

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SOURCE Decision Resources Group

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