By Sylvia M.Findlay, Research Analyst, Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology, Healthcare – EMEA

Globally 10.0 million new cases of cancer are registered each year. Rising incidence of cancer warrants equally high treatment costs. The cancer market is posing exorbitantly high expenditures to the governments. The rising cancer incidence is expected to make cancer as one of the major chronic diseases that will have a high impact on the patient lives. The cancer market is yet to witness refinement in diagnostic and therapeutic technologies for improved cancer management.

Continuous research and advances in molecular biology, immunology cancer genetics, coupled with the influx of genomics, proteomics and micro arrays have led to the identification of novel molecular targets for cancer therapy and prevention. These discoveries have opened up new frontiers in the field of molecular medicine resulting in innovative cancer therapies. One of the major breakthroughs in cancer therapy is the cancer vaccine.

Cancer Vaccines can either be a therapeutic vaccine (to treat existing cancers in patients) or a prophylactic vaccine (administered to healthy individuals to prevent the occurrence of cancer). These vaccines possess cancer-specific antigens that stimulate the immune response to attack the cancer cells. These cancer cells often are not recognised by the body’s immune system. As these vaccines are targeted towards the cancer cells, the normal cells are not affected. In addition, the delirious side effects of chemotherapeutic agents are not seen when using cancer vaccines. This is a great move towards innovative cancer therapy. Various types of cancer vaccines under research are

• Antigen/Adjuvant vaccines
• Whole cell tumour vaccines
• Dendritic cell(DC) vaccines
• Viral vectors and DNA vaccines
• Idiotype vaccines

Market overview and key challenges

Cancer vaccines are promising, emerging therapeutic options. The global cancer vaccine market is faced with numerous challenges. Regulatory hurdles, reimbursement issues, high cost involved in producing an oncology product, government cost containment measures and fear over the efficacy and side effects of cancer vaccine are proving to be roadblocks in the growth of the global cancer vaccine market. In addition, the cancer vaccines are expected to cost $15,000 to $20,000 per patient per year. This augments the reimbursement issues and is likely to reduce the penetration rate of cancer vaccines.

Harnessing the power of the immune system to fight the cancer cells and to provide a long lasting freedom from the invading tumour cells has been the goal of the scientists. Though these researches have had an unfavourable past, the recent approval of cervical cancer vaccine – Gardasil has opened up a new vista in the field of cancer therapy. With the advent of cancer vaccines, the concept of personalised medicine is at our doorstep. Gardasil is a recombinant DNA vaccine that targets the two most prevalent forms of human papilloma virus (HPV) 16 and 18. The vaccine has been shown to be 100 per cent safe with minimum side effects. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has Cervarix – cervical cancer vaccine in its final stage. Two of the cancer vaccine products have already been launched - M-Vax in Switzerland and OncoVAX in Switzerland and Netherlands.

In addition, to offering a novel treatment option, these cancer vaccines have high market potential in terms of revenues. These two cervical vaccines (Gardasil and Cervarix) are likely to garner considerable sales in the coming years. The United States market potential for Gardasil is estimated to be $1.40 - $1.80 billion.

The launch of cervical cancer vaccine has created great expectations from the cancer community. The market revenues in 2005 for cancer vaccines are estimated to be $260.4 million and possess the potential to reach $6.00 billion by 2010.

Conclusion

The cutting edge medicine for cancer is pursued with great interest among the scientists and a whole range of novel candidates for cancer vaccines are in the pipeline. Drug candidates to target almost 30 cancer indications including colon cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, prostrate cancer, haematological cancer are being undertaken by more than 170 companies.

The global cancer vaccine market is highly promising, though fears of its success lurk in the minds of the cancer community. The launch of cancer vaccines is definitely considered to be a giant leap in cancer treatment and prophylaxis.

This article originates from Frost and Sullivan

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