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Senior Citizen Health & Medicine
Prostate Cancer a Booming Market for New Therapies
3.4% annual sales growth and success of Taxotere
fuel new therapies
June 7, 2006 - A sustained annual growth of more
than 3.4% in sales of prostate cancer therapies from 2005 to 2015 will
be driven primarily by new entries to the market that will add to,
rather than replace, existing therapies. The rapidly increasing older
population, too, will certainly increase the need for treatment, since
over 75% percent of cases are diagnosed in men over age 65. The average
age at the time of diagnosis is 70 and the disease if extremely rare in
men under 40.
According to Decision Resources, Inc., new
Pharmacor report Prostate Cancer, the success of Sanofi-Aventis's
Taxotere (docetaxel) in the treatment of hormone-refractory metastatic
prostate cancer has fueled drug developers' interest in novel agents to
treat this poor-prognosis population.
As a result, drug developers are expected to launch
several novel drug classes for prostate cancer treatment including
vaccines, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors, and
vitamin D analogues.
"In addition to a rise in patient share for
Taxotere in Europe and Japan over the next 10 years, the entry of novel,
high-priced agents, such as Genentech/Roche/Chugai's Avastin (bevacizumab)
and the launch of vaccines will expand the market to treat prostate
cancer," said Joanne Graham, Ph.D., analyst at Decision Resources, Inc.
"Novel agents with proven benefit have huge
potential and could add an impressive $1.5 billion in annual sales to
this underserved market."
More About Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer is a disease of enormous
significance to public health. Among men in developed countries, it is
one of the leading malignancies in terms of share of incident cancer
cases, which is increasing in line with general population aging. The
high incidence of prostate cancer makes it the second-leading cancer
cause of death in men in the United States. (See more statistics below
news report.)
About Decision Resources
Decision Resources, Inc. (http://www.decisionresources.com/)
is a world leader in market research publications, advisory services,
and consulting designed to help clients shape strategy, allocate
resources, and master their chosen markets.
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Prostate Cancer Facts |
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By
Prostate Cancer Foundation
• Prostate cancer is the
most common non-skin cancer in America.
• In 2006, over 232,000 men
will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, and over 30,000 men
will die from it.
• One new case occurs
every 2.5 minutes and a man dies from prostate cancer every
17 minutes.
• After lung cancer,
prostate cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related
deaths among men in the U.S.
• A nonsmoking man is more
likely to get prostate cancer than lung, bronchus, colon,
rectal, bladder, lymphoma, melanoma, oral and kidney cancers
combined.
• African-American men are
65% more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than
Caucasian- Americans and are more than twice as likely to
die from it. The reasons for this disparity are not yet
known.
• It is estimated that there
are over 2 million American men currently living with
prostate cancer.
• Early prostate cancer
usually has no symptoms and is most commonly detected
through prostate cancer screening tests such as the PSA
blood test and digital rectal exam.
• Prostate cancer can be
eliminated from the body by surgery or radiation – if
diagnosed at an early stage.
• However, every year,
70,000 men require additional treatment due to a recurrence
of prostate cancer.
• Because prostate cancer is
a relatively slow-growing cancer, the 5-year survival rate
for prostate cancer diagnosed at all stages is 98%. The
relative 10-year survival rate is 84% and the 15-year
survival rate is 56%.
• The chance of having
prostate cancer increases rapidly after age 50. More than
70% of all prostate cancers are diagnosed in men over the
age of 65. It is still unclear why this increase with age
occurs for prostate cancer.
• The only well-established
risk factors for prostate cancer are age, ethnicity and
family history of the disease; however, high dietary fat
intake may also be a significant risk factor. A recent study
shows that the risk of dying from prostate cancer increases
with body weight.
• During the past 13 years,
the Prostate Cancer Foundation has raised more than $245
million to support aggressive prostate cancer research.
During that time, U.S. government funding for prostate
cancer research has increased 20-fold from $25 million per
year in 1993 to over $500 million in 2004 – largely as a
result of the advocacy efforts of the Prostate Cancer
Foundation. |
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