Roche could lose its dominant market share in breast cancer, says IMS report

Biosimilars and new generation agents will end the market dominance of established breast cancer drugs, such as those from Swiss oncology giant Roche (ROG: SIX), according to a new webinar from IMS Health.

Breast Cancer Targeting - Opportunities and Challenges in the Post-Herceptin Era found that, while tamoxifen and trastuzumab (Herceptin) have revolutionized treatment, and Herceptin leads the market, its dominance will end soon with biosimilars and new generation agents now on the horizon.

Breast cancer is now understood to be a spectrum of diseases with different underlying genetics. There is no shortage of potential future breakthrough drugs: molecular diagnostics are continuing to reveal breast cancer’s genomic heterogeneity and yielding new drug targets. But will the market be constrained by the spiraling costs of combinations of premium priced targeted agents and diminishing clinical returns?