Oncology

Therapy area with maximum innovation across all types of therapies but significant lag in broader accessibility:

Significant Innovation : Oncology is the largest therapy field, with a surge of innovation anticipated to introduce hundreds of new treatments over the next five years, addressing cancers from various angles. These treatments include targeted therapies, immunotherapies, and next-generation options like cell and gene therapies. While advanced treatments are increasingly accessible and adopted in high-income countries, developing regions still rely heavily on traditional chemotherapies.

Huge Disparity in Access : Even within the higher-use regions there remain significant variations in per capita use of the most novel therapies, but the growing use of these breakthrough therapies will continue to reshape cancer care as even more novel therapies follow. The rise in oncology expenditure is projected to be driven by early patient diagnosis, introduction of new medications, expanded access to innovative cancer drugs in additional countries beyond the primary developed nations where they typically debut first, and prolonged treatment durations for medications offering survival advantages.

Emerging Market Needs : The innovation across all areas lags significantly for emerging markets due to affordability challenges. Also, emerging markets needs are different with respect to types of cancers, responsiveness of therapies and supportive care for chemotherapy related toxicities. Biologics targeted therapies require significant infrastructure and monitoring so may not be feasible to use in these markets after launch. There has been significant innovation in small molecule targeted therapies but there is a significant lag in the access of these products in emerging markets. So, there is an opportunity to develop these alternatives targeting proven pathways for emerging markets to narrow the disparity of access.