GASTRIC CANCER THERAPEUTICS MARKET ANALYSIS

Gastric cancer, also known as stomach cancer, is a type of cancer that develops within the inside layer of the stomach. Symptoms may include upper abdominal pain, yellowing of the skin, heartburn, sudden weight loss, blood in the stool, loss of appetite, and nausea, among others. This type of cancer may multiply to unaffected parts of the body mainly to the lungs, liver, the lining of the abdomen, lymph nodes, and bones. The key cause of gastric cancer is contagion by Helicobacter pylori. This accounts for around 60% of the gastric cancer cases. Some types of H. pylori comprise larger risks than the others. Some of the other causes include smoking and eating pickled vegetables. Around 1 in 10 cases of gastric cancer are inherited and 1% to 3% of the cases are due to hereditary syndromes such as hereditary gastric cancer. Most cases of gastric cancers are gastric carcinomas.

According to World Cancer Research Fund International, 952,000 new cases of gastric cancer were diagnosed in 2012. Gastric cancer was the fifth-most common type of cancer in the world. This epidemic has forced researchers, doctors, and governments to adopt various therapeutic treatments related to gastric cancer. An increase in investment by the companies and regulations by the government encouraging research on the same has provided significant momentum to the growth of the gastric cancer therapeutics market. This trend is likely to persist throughout the forecast period, since the number of cases of gastric cancer around the globe is rising at an alarming rate.

Gastric cancer therapeutics market taxonomy

On the basis of type of treatment, the global market is classified into:

• Surgery
• Targeted drugs therapy
• Chemotherapy
• Radiation therapy
• Others

On the basis of end user, the global market is classified into:

• Hospitals
• Clinics
• Specialized cancer treatment centers
• Ambulatory surgical centers
• Others

According to National Cancer Institute, there were a projected 79,843 individuals with stomach cancer in the U.S. alone, in 2013. According to the same report, gastric cancer represented a whopping 1.6% of the new cancer cases reported in the U.S. According to the National Cancer Institute, an estimated 26,370 new cases of the disease were reported, leading to 10,730 deaths in the U.S. in 2016. Rising incidence of stomach cancer in the U.S., positions it as a high growth market for gastric cancer therapeutics.

Increasing prevalence of the disease in the Asia to drive growth of overall gastric cancer therapeutics market

Survival rate for stomach cancer is greatly dependent upon the stage or phase of the disease during diagnosis. The earlier the stage of the disease progression, the higher is the survival rate. In Asia Pacific, the majority of the cases are detected at the later stage of the disease and predominantly among the geriatric population. Growth of the geriatric population in the region is leading to a proportional increase in occurrence of gastric cancer. This factor, along with growing health awareness leading to a rise in demand for early detection would fuel growth of the gastric cancer therapeutics industry over the forecast period.

Presently, the products available in the market constitutes of an extensive variety of treatment alternatives such as angiogenesis inhibitors, new chemotherapies and HER2-targeted therapy. However, demand for therapeutics that can take care of HER2-negative stomach cancer patients is high. Nevertheless, the gastric cancer market is experiencing a gradual change from generic treatment regimen to targeted therapies. This will further enhance the growth of the global gastric cancer therapeutics market.

Some of the companies operating in the gastric cancer therapeutics market in the current scenario are Pfizer, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Kuhnil Pharmaceutical/Daiichi Sankyo, BMS, Merck KGaA, AstraZeneca, Otsuka Holdings Co. Ltd., Sanofi, and F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. Some of the other companies operating in the market are Ono Pharmaceutical/Bristol-Myers Squibb, Jiangsu HengRui Medicine, Gilead Bioscience, Celgene/Taiho, Boston Biomedical, and Merck.

Key Developments

Key players in the market are focused on launching new products to expand their product portfolio. For instance, in April 2019, F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG launched VENTANA HER2 Dual ISH DNA Probe Cocktail assay for the detection of the HER2 biomarker in breast and gastric cancer.

Major market players are focused on adopting collaboration strategies to develop novel therapies for gastric cancer. For instance, in February 2019, GlaxoSmithKline plc. and Merck KGaA entered into a global strategic alliance to jointly develop and commercialize M7824, an investigational bifunctional fusion protein immunotherapy under clinical development stage, for the treatment of human papillomavirus-associated cancers, biliary tract cancer (BTC), and gastric cancer.

Key market players are also focused on gaining regulatory approvals to expand their product portfolio. Fro instance, in August 2019, Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. obtained additional indication of unresectable advanced or recurrent gastric cancer that has progressed after chemotherapy for its anticancer agent LONSURF, an oral anticancer drug that uses the combination of trifluridine (antineoplastic nucleoside analogue) and tipiracil (a thymidine phosphorylase inhibitor), from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.