Immuno-oncology and personalised medicine to drive pharma in 2020

An outlook report suggests that industry stakeholders expect immuno-oncology and personalised medicine to be the most impactful trends shaping the pharmaceutical sector in 2020.

Claire Herman, Global Director of Therapy Analysis and Epidemiology at GlobalData which compiled the research report, revealed: “For the second consecutive year, our survey found that a majority of respondents believe that immuno-oncology or personalised medicine are the top trends to watch, with 40 percent and 34 percent, respectively, selecting them as the most impactful areas of investment and innovation.”

Herman added: “Immuno-oncology drugs have become increasingly well-established as a pillar of cancer care. This growth has been driven by regulatory approvals in a range of new indications, a slew of development and marketing partnerships and exploration of new combination treatment strategies.”

Fern Barkalow, GlobalData’s Senior Director of Oncology and Hematology, explained: “As the mechanisms underlying the action of various immuno-oncology combination approaches become better elucidated, these drugs will gain further traction in the treatment paradigms of a variety of cancers in 2020, moving into earlier lines of therapy, as well as demonstrating success in those ‘cold’ tumours previously resistant to immuno-oncology treatment.”

A range of pipeline products entering late-stage development in the personalised medicine market during 2020 should also drive similar growth in this field. Industry experts suggest personalised medicine is set to hit milestones such as trial completion and regulatory filings.

Herman continued that there is great enthusiasm for a change in treatment strategies “towards an individualised, patient-centric disease management approach.” She also stated that “while R&D in these areas has seen some setbacks, overall expectations are extremely high across a range of disease areas, from oncology to neurology to rare genetic disorders… Investment in targeted therapeutics has been building for over a decade, with no end in sight.”