Prostate Cancer - Molecular targeted therapies will fulfill unmet needs in castration-resistant disease

Incidence of prostate cancer in the seven major markets will be just over 422,000 in 2009, indicating high patient potential for drug developers to invest in. There are currently 136 agents in development for prostate cancer, two-thirds of which are novel targeted therapies or immunotherapies. Collectively, the nine drugs in late-phase development are forecast to achieve $2,780m in sales by 2018.

There are 136 drugs in clinical development for prostate cancer. Molecular targeted therapies are the predominant therapy class in the pipeline, accounting for 47%. Cytotoxic therapies account for 19% of the pipeline, while immunotherapies account for 21%, antihormonal therapies for 6%, gene therapies for 5% and photodynamic therapies for 1%.

The greatest unmet need lies in treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer. First-line therapy revolves around Taxotere (docetaxel; Sanofi-Aventis), however, many patients are precluded from therapy due to toxicity concerns. Unmet needs are even higher in the second-line setting, where there are no approved products and no standard of care.

Abiraterone (CB-7630; Cougar Biotechnology/Johnson & Johnson) is forecast to achieve the highest sales of the late-phase prostate cancer pipeline products by 2018. Abiraterone has shown encouraging activity in heavily pretreated patients, which could fulfill unmet needs by providing therapy options where there is currently no standard of care.

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