Targeted therapies offer novel treatment modalities for breast cancer

Despite the availability of around 25 drugs for the treatment of breast cancer, the unmet need in the global market is vast.To address this drawback, pharmaceutical companies have established a robust pipeline that currently has about 52 drugs in development. While chemotherapy remains the most important class of drugs for breast cancer treatment, the trend toward targeted drugs is on the rise, according to new research.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, A Competitive Analysis of the Global Breast Cancer Therapeutics Market, finds that the market earned revenues of approximately $10.0 billion in 2014 and estimates this to reach $13.38 billion in 2018.

Breast cancer drugs are expensive and have placed a huge burden on patients and health insurance agencies. The lack of effective therapies, especially for triple negative breast cancer, is another excruciating challenge.

“The emergence of a new class of targeted therapies is likely to redefine the survival rates of patients with triple-negative cancers,” saidFrost & Sullivan health care senior research analystSriram Radhakrishnan, adding: “Poly-adenosine diphosphate ribose polymerase or PARP-based targeted therapies are under development and are expected to effectively treat breast cancers.”

Although Herceptin (trastuzumab) and Tykerb (lapatinib) are the only targeted therapeutics available for breast cancer, the recently approved Kadcyla (ado-trastuzumab emtansine) and Perjeta (pertuzumab), both from Swiss pharma giant Roche (ROG: SIX), will bolster the portfolio of targeted drugs.

Key drugs to watch between 2015 and 2017 are: