To stand out in the market, companies will need to answer a number of key questions regarding PARP inhibitor drugs
The ovarian cancer space across the seven major markets of the US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, and Japan, is set to rise from around $1.2bn in 2015 to more than $5.2bn by 2025, according to research and consulting firm GlobalData.
The company’s latest report states that the key driver of this growth will be the establishment of new standard of care maintenance therapies in the first and second lines of treatment for newly diagnosed and recurrent patients.
The anticipated extended durations of therapy in the maintenance settings should fuel the sales of poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors and immune checkpoint modulators, as their efficacy data is expected to justify their expensive price tags.
Marc Hansel, Healthcare Analyst for GlobalData, explains: “PARP inhibitors are expected to be a major addition to the treatment paradigm for patients with deleterious germline or somatic BRCA mutations or BRCA-like phenotypes.”
AstraZeneca’s PARP inhibitor, Lynparza (olaparib), had two years alone on the ovarian cancer market without direct competition until Clovis Oncology’s Rubraca (rucaparib) joined the US market in December 2016.
In the US, Lynparza is currently indicated for the fourth-line treatment of patients with a germline BRCA mutation. While Rubraca received a label for the third line in the same patient population, it also includes both germline and somatic BRCA.
Although this was a success for Clovis, AstraZeneca is set to retake the lead after it announced top-line results from its Phase III SOLO2 study, which investigated Lynparza use in the second-line maintenance treatment setting.
“While a plethora of PARP inhibitor drug choices may exist in the coming years, many unanswered questions still remain,” Hansel said.
“For example, when in the treatment pathway PARP inhibitors should be used; whether they are best used as maintenance treatment after chemotherapy, as monotherapy for active therapy, or in combination with chemotherapy; what the molecular mechanism responsible for resistance are, and whether they can be overcome; and whether patients can be treated again with the same PARP inhibitor later in the treatment paradigm.”
Drug companies may be able to differentiate themselves from the crowded field if they can provide answers to these questions.
Answering them, along with showing robust efficacy and safety data, would go a help companies stand above the competition and achieve commercial success, says the research company.
