Colorectal cancer: targeted and immune system-based therapeutics emerge as prominent treatment modalities

Chemotherapy is evolving to include biomarker-driven remedies based on the molecular mutations of tumours, finds Frost & Sullivan.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Product and Pipeline Analysis of the Global Colorectal Cancer Market, finds that advanced targeted therapies are dominating the colorectal cancer pipeline, accounting for 60% of the drugs under development. This trend remains in line with the broader oncology market’s shift away from standard cytotoxic regimens toward tumour-specific, personalised modalities.

“The growing understanding of the molecular make-up of specific colorectal cancer pathways will lead to the evolution of new biomarker targets and additional multi-targeted immunotherapies,” said Frost & Sullivan Healthcare Senior Industry Analyst Barbara Gilmore. “Biomarker testing, in particular, will become the standard of care, facilitating the selection of a targeted therapy for a patient's individual need (predictive biomarkers) as well as defining the patient's specific tumour type (prognostic biomarkers).”

In a crowded market, clear product differentiation and strong marketing efforts will be critical. New solutions must compete with well-established products and therefore, need to demonstrate superior profiles in terms of disease-free survival, time to progression, and overall survival rates. Regulators and payers are intensely scrutinising novel remedies, and the bar for approval and reimbursement is significantly higher than a decade ago.