Cancer Incidence: Market for Therapeutic Antibodies

Abstract

Approximately 450 per 100,000 people are newly diagnosed with cancer each year in the United States, and about 160 per 100,000 people die of cancer. The risk of US citizens getting cancer at some point in their lives is 40%, and about 21% of men and 18% of women risk dying of cancer. Four types of cancer, lung, colorectal, breast, and prostate, account for a fourth of all cancer deaths. In China, about 36% of deaths were due to stomach, liver, and esophagus cancer with relatively poor prognoses. In the United States and the United Kingdom, however, these cancers only accounted for ≤5% of the mortalities. The estimated national expenditures for cancer care in the United States in 2018 were $150.8 billion, which could rise significantly due to the increasing use of novel therapeutic antibodies. The antibody Keytruda, for example, directed against the checkpoint inhibitor PD-1, is soon expected to overtake Humira as the top-selling biological drug. The median price of mAbs for 1 year of treatment in the United States in the area of oncology/hematology in 2019 was about $143,000. To facilitate decisions regarding reimbursement, some countries have established cost-effectiveness thresholds.