Pipeline Immunotherapies Show Promise for Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Market

Immunotherapies have huge potential for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), with three late-stage candidates leading the way, according to independent analyst firm Datamonitor Healthcare.

The NSCLC market in the US, Japan, and five major EU markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK) is currently worth $7bn, and targeted antibody therapies are expected to see increasing uptake as they continue to demonstrate efficacy against well-defined patient subgroups and reduce systemic toxicity.

Drugs including nivolumab (Bristol-Myers Squibb), pembrolizumab (Merck & Co) and MPDL3280A (Roche) – which all target the PD-1 signaling pathway – are expected to become the first treatments of this modality, with nivolumab set to hit the market first in 2015.

Hardik Patel, analyst at Datamonitor Healthcare said: “Although to date no immunotherapies have proven to be both safe and effective enough for use in non-small cell lung cancer, these three drugs have produced exciting results in early stage clinical trials which is very encouraging.

“These immunotherapies target pathways regulating the activity of T-cells in an attempt to stimulate targeted immune responses against tumor cells. This class of drugs has huge commercial potential and could significantly change the way we treat non-small cell lung cancer.”