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Oncology comprises a significant share of the pharmaceutical market and further growth is projected – probably at twice the rate of the rest of the market. Increasing cancer frequency, along with ageing Western populations and factors such as lifestyle change and worldwide tobacco abuse, are contributing to a greater number of cancer-related deaths and a subsequent higher interest in the development of new oncology drugs. As such, this is driving intensive research activities and numerous clinical studies.
Currently, candidate cancer drugs represent approximately one-third of all compounds in development. At the same time, oncology studies have specific requirements and are commonly viewed as the most complex and costly field of clinical studies. For example, it takes an average of 7.8 years to complete required clinical studies for an oncology drug, as compared to an average of 6.3 years for products from other therapeutic areas.
There are numerous challenges specific to oncology studies, but the most important relate to study design, trial ethics, and data quality in relation to patient enrolment and selection. |
