Market Spotlight: Thyroid Cancer (2020)

This Market Spotlight report covers the thyroid cancer market, comprising key marketed and pipeline drugs, clinical trials, recent events and analyst opinion, key upcoming and regulatory events, probability of success, patent information, a 10-year disease incidence and five-year prevalence forecast, and licensing and acquisition deals, as well as presenting drug-specific revenue forecasts.

Key Takeaways:

• The publisher estimates that in 2017, there were 559,800 incident cases of thyroid cancer worldwide, and expects that number to increase to 612,600 incident cases by 2026.
• In the same year, there were an estimated 2.0 million five-year prevalent cases of thyroid cancer worldwide, which is expected to increase to 2.2 million cases by 2026.
• The approved drugs in the thyroid cancer space focus on a wide variety of targets. These drugs are commonly administered via the oral route, with one product being available in an intramuscular formulation.
• The largest proportion of industry-sponsored drugs in active clinical development for thyroid cancer are in Phase II, with only one drug in the NDA/BLA stage.
• Therapies in early-to-mid-stage development for thyroid cancer focus on targets such as RET, carcinoembryonic antigen, immune system, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and ErbB3/HER3. These therapies are administered via the oral, intravenous, and subcutaneous routes.
• High-impact upcoming events for drugs in the thyroid cancer space comprise topline Phase III trial results for Cometriq, and an estimated PDUFA date as well as a CHMP opinion for selpercatinib.
• The overall likelihood of approval of a Phase I solid tumors asset is 5.7%, and the average probability a drug advances from Phase III is 41.9%. Drugs, on average, take 9.4 years from Phase I to approval, compared to 9.3 years in the overall oncology space.
• There have been 14 licensing and asset acquisition deals involving thyroid cancer drugs during 2015–20. The $1,550m exclusive global collaboration signed in November 2017 between Bayer and Loxo Oncology for the development and commercialization of two novel oncology therapies selectively targeting genetic drivers of cancer was the largest deal.
• The distribution of clinical trials across Phase I–IV indicates that the vast majority of trials for thyroid cancer have been in the early and mid-phases of development, with 91% of trials in Phase I–II, and only 9% in Phase III–IV.
• The US has a substantial lead in the number of thyroid cancer clinical trials globally. France leads the major European markets, while China has the top spot in Asia.
• Clinical trial activity in the thyroid cancer space is dominated by completed trials. Pfizer has the highest number of completed clinical trials for thyroid cancer, with 33 trials.
• Novartis leads industry sponsors with the highest overall number of clinical trials for thyroid cancer, followed by Pfizer.