Global urological cancers market to double by 2022, says GBI Research

The urological cancers market will increase from $17.9 billion in 2015 to $35.9 billion by 2022, according to business intelligence provider GBI Research.

The company’s latest report states that this strong market growth will be driven by the predicted emergence of targeted therapies for bladder cancer and increasing prostate and kidney cancer prevalence.

Adam Bradbury, Analyst for GBI Research, explains: “The development and approval of immune checkpoint inhibitors will lower the associated toxicity of urological cancer therapies and increase their usage in typically poor-performance patients, who have a reduced functional status. Targeted treatment administration will increase patients’ overall survival and enable more rounds of chemotherapy to be given.

“It is predicted that two new urological cancer drugs for the treatment of bladder cancer – Roche’s atezolizumab and AstraZeneca’s durvalumab – will achieve blockbuster status by 2022. The former is anticipated to achieve revenue of $2.5 billion in 2022, following approval from late 2016, and its uptake will be driven by a lack of targeted therapies for bladder cancer, along with increasing prevalence and clinician familiarity.

“The latter is anticipated to generate $1.2 billion in 2022, following its expected approval in 2017. It is expected to be one of an increasing number of cancer immunotherapies for bladder cancer, providing less toxic options for treatment of the malignancy, and enabling administration to patients with poorer performance statuses.”

Shifts in market dynamics

According to GBI Research, although drugs such as atezolizumab and durvalumab are not expected to surpass the revenues generated by the currently marketed drugs Opdivo or Xtandi due to a competitive market landscape, their approval and uptake will cause shifts in market dynamics.

Bradbury continues: “Key players Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer, for example, are predicted to have decreasing market shares due to decreasing or static drug revenues as the overall market revenues rise. Those of Roche and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), on the other hand, will increase due to the uptake of recently approved and upcoming immune checkpoint inhibitors such as atezolizumab, and BMS’s Opdivo and Yervoy. Astellas is forecast to maintain its strong market share through to 2022 due to increasing Xtandi revenues.”