Oncology drug development is important for numerous drug developers, funding bodies and academic researchers. This has caused a wealth of new innovative treatments and increased rates of survival. There are some kinds of cancers that still evade treatment. New developments will most likely add to the challenges and complexities of drug breakthroughs to fulfill the rising demand for an objective of precision drugs.
These complexities and challenges could incorporate lack of knowledge regarding biological diseases, safety issues, competition for eligible patients in some disease growth and high prices. There are several trends in oncology drug development and future oncology drug trends considerations.
Oncology Drug Development Today
Over the past couple of decades, some exceptional anticancer therapies have come to light, with the inclusion of immunotherapies. Additionally, more medicines have been authenticated within oncology than in any other area of therapy since 2003. There were 70 new approvals in oncology between 2010 and 2015, for utilization in more than 20 distinct kinds of tumors.
To put this into perspective, there were just 63 precision medicines available in the market before the year 2004. This increase of new precision drugs and approvals coming to the market has been aided by some regulatory initiatives. The main players have utilized different strategies for this development and the market shares for global development, including North America, South America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
The FDA approved four new oncology drugs in 2016, and all were quick approvals. Despite fewer approvals in 2016, the increase in new anti-cancer treatments is anticipated to continue over the next several years. In 2016, the market accounted for $40.1 billion at a compound annual growth rate of 10.5% amid the predicted period of 2017 to 2024.
Factors That Impact Oncology Drug Development
The prime factors that impact the oncology drug development are:
1) Lack of understanding and expert professionals
2) Data sharing complexities
3) Grown incidences of cancer
4) R&D investments for featuring genes
5) Rising online collaborative forums
One factor that remains the same in cancer drug development is clinical trials. Attempts to streamline the process of bringing oncology drugs to market will not reduce the need for clinical trials. Testing potential drug therapies on human subjects is an important part of certifying them safe and effective.