US and European oncologists see novel chemotherapies as best hope for soft tissue sarcoma

Although interviewed oncologists in the USA and Europe would like to see a future of personalized medicine targeting different soft tissue sarcoma subtypes, they believe that it is in fact novel chemotherapies that hold the most near-term promise for improving outcomes in this highly fragmented indication. According to a new report from health care advisory firm Decision Resources.

Titled Niche Markets and Rare Diseases: Soft Tissue Sarcoma, the report notes that the clinical pipeline for the disease is relatively sparse and chemotherapy remains the backbone of current treatment. Additionally, most late-stage research focuses on developing novel chemotherapeutic agents or new formulations of chemotherapy drugs with proven efficacy. There are only a few agents in Phase III clinical trials and the majority are chemotherapeutic agents, while considerably more therapies are in mid-stage development and, depending on data, regulators may be open to considering a filing based only on Phase II results.

Four new agents likely to launch by 2018