Asia-Pacific’s Glioblastoma Multiforme Treatment Market Value to More than Double by 2020

The Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) therapeutics market in Asia-Pacific (APAC) will more than double in value, from $49.4 million in 2013 to $105.8 million by 2020, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11.5%, says a new report from business intelligence provider GBI Research.

The company’s latest report* states that this impressive growth will result from the anticipated approval and market entries of Rindopepimut, Cotara and Avastin in some APAC countries during the forecast period.

Vijaya Vulapalli, Senior Analyst for GBI Research, says: “The APAC region boasts a strong GBM pipeline, which also includes carmustine implants, currently being developed in China. Novel therapies Rindopepimut and Cotara in particular could have a significant bearing on APAC’s GBM treatment landscape.

“Phase II clinical studies of Rindopepimut demonstrated a relatively high median overall survival (OS) rate among patients. Meanwhile, Cotara’s Phase II studies showed similar OS to Avastin, with slightly more progression-free survival improvement in recurrent GBM. As a single-infusion therapy, Cotara is likely to become an effective second-line treatment option for patients.”

However, GBI Research states that even if these therapies prove successful in late-stage clinical trials, they will experience low uptake in their respective markets due to their high prices and lack of patient access to medicines, mainly in China and India.

Furthermore, APAC’s GBM treatment space is still expected to require new drugs with better efficacy and improved prognosis.

Vulapalli continues: “One of the key reasons for the lack of efficacy exhibited by most therapies is their inability to penetrate the blood–brain barrier, and an urgent unmet need will remain over the forecast period for drugs that can achieve this.

“Efficacy also remains low because therapeutic resistance develops due to the disease heterogeneity, which is believed to be increased by genetic variations arising from mutations. A combined therapy that acts on multiple tumour signaling pathways, rather than a single molecular target, may therefore be more effective and result in a better prognosis,” the analyst concludes.

*Glioblastoma Multiforme Therapeutics in Asia-Pacific Markets to 2020 — Novel Therapeutic Approaches Target High Unmet Need in Newly Diagnosed and Recurrent GBM