Healthcare Insights
Top 10 targeted therapies used to treat non-small cell lung cancer
Lung cancer affects 2.2 million people worldwide and is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. In fact, more people die from lung cancer than colon, breast, and prostate cancer combined.
It is estimated that non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for 80% of all new lung cancer diagnoses. NSCLC treatment options include a combination of surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and immunotherapies; however, patients still only have a five-year survival rate of 26%. These treatments affect cancer cells but also cause injury to normal cells, leading to severe off-target side effects for the patient. To address this, biopharma companies have created targeted therapies for lung cancer to use in combination with the beforementioned treatment options. Targeted therapies comprise of small molecules or monoclonal antibodies, which are designed to specifically target cancer at the cellular and molecular level, thus reducing off-target effects on normal cells and improving patient outcomes and quality of life.
Using Passport Express from Definitive Healthcare, we analyzed NSCLC targeted therapies by patient share for 2020-2021 vs. 2021-2022. The table below lists the top targeted therapies by percentage of market share.
| Rank | Targeted therapy | 2020-2021 (%) | 2021-2022 (%) | Explore dataset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bevacizumab | 55.6 | 64.7 | Explore |
| 2 | Osimertinib | 26.8 | 17.3 | Explore |
| 3 | Cetuximab | 6 | 6 | Explore |
| 4 | Alectinib | 2.4 | 2 | Explore |
| 5 | Sotorasib | 0 | 1.7 | Explore |
| 6 | Erlotinib | 2 | 1.4 | Explore |
| 7 | Afatinib | 1.4 | 1.3 | Explore |
| 8 | Cabozantinib | 1.4 | 1.3 | Explore |
| 9 | Taf-mek | 1.2 | 1.1 | Explore |
| 10 | Capmatinib | 0.9 | 1.1 | Explore |
Fig. 1 This table compares the patient share for NSCLC targeted therapies from June 1, 2021, to May 31, 2022, with June 1, 2020, to May 31, 2021. This analysis is from Passport Express, which combines and analyzes data from our ClaimsMx and ClaimsRx products.
What are the top NSCLC targeted therapies by patient share?
As shown in the chart above, the overwhelming majority of market share is held by Bevacizumab and Osimertinib, which together account for approximately 82% of the patient share of NSCLC targeted therapies in 2021 and 2022.
Osimertinib patient share is high likely because it’s well tolerated by patients, more effective than other targeted therapies in its class, and is FDA-approved as a first-in-line EGFR inhibitor for the treatment of NSCLC. Bevacizumab patient share is likely due to positive patient outcomes when used in combination with other cancer drugs. These outcomes include encouraging survival rates and favorable safety profiles, and suggest combination treatments may become a standard treatment for certain NSCLC cancer patient populations.
There are many factors that can affect the highly active market for targeted therapeutics, including existing and new biosimilars, new biomarker diagnostics to better classify NSCLC, and combination treatments unique to various stages and classifications of NSCLC.
Learn more about accessing intelligence for your therapy area.
Healthcare Insights are developed with healthcare commercial intelligence from the Definitive Healthcare platform. Pharmaceutical companies developing a NSCLC therapy can accelerate pre-launch planning with up-to-date and comprehensive visibility into patient and brand market share for a therapy area.
Want even more insights for your therapy area? Start a free trial now for Passport Express and get access to the latest healthcare commercial intelligence on patient and brand markets by select therapy areas.
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