Despite the rapid development of medical technology today, the rising incidence of cancer and cardiovascular diseases still pose a major threat to human health that cannot be ignored. Especially in the past 100 years, human beings have experienced arduous "struggles" to fight cancer, but they have not been able to completely conquer it. Tens of millions of families of cancer patients around the world are still eagerly looking forward to the emergence of more innovative and effective cancer treatment technologies and drugs. , that they bring a new dawn of life. (can be used as a cover introduction)
Cancer used to be considered a "terminal illness," but most cancers can now be managed with aggressive treatment if detected early, making cancer less scary than it once did. But at the same time, including China, the incidence of cancer around the world continues to rise, and more and more people are newly diagnosed with cancer every year.
The incidence of cancer continues to rise, and the market size of oncology drugs has grown significantly
According to public information, the incidence of cancer in the world and in China has been increasing in recent years. In 2020, the number of people with cancer in the world will be 19.3 million, and it is estimated that it will reach 24 million in 2030. In China, cancer is the second leading cause of death (after cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases). In 2020, the number of cancer cases in China was 4.6 million, and this number is expected to reach 5.8 million in 2030!
Against the background of increasing new cancer cases, the global and Chinese oncology drug market is also growing.
Reports from professional research institutions show that the global and Chinese oncology drug market has expanded rapidly in recent years and is expected to continue to grow significantly in the future. Data shows that the global oncology drug market is expected to increase from US$150.3 billion in 2020 to US$304.8 billion in 2025 and US$482.5 billion in 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 2020-2025 and 2025-2030, respectively. 15.2% and 9.6%.
The data also shows that the size of China's oncology drug market will increase from US$28.6 billion in 2020 to US$60.3 billion in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 16.1%, and further increase to US$99 billion in 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 16.1%. 10.4%, both exceeding the global growth rate.
(Source: Frost & Sullivan)
When it comes to the reasons for the growing global oncology drug market, the industry summarizes the following driving factors:
One is the trend of chronic disease in cancer treatment. The survival of cancer patients has become longer due to the availability of more innovative treatments and drugs; and due to the trend of chronic disease in cancer treatment, the duration of medication for cancer patients has also increased with survival.
The second is to address the unmet need for effective therapies. Driven by an aging population, environmental pollution, and unhealthy lifestyles such as smoking, physical inactivity, and high-calorie diets, the number of cancer patients worldwide will further increase. However, so far, many tumor diseases are still incurable.
The third is the growing demand for innovative drugs. Although the current oncology drug market in China is still dominated by chemotherapy drugs, it has shifted to more advanced and effective targeted therapy and tumor immunotherapy, and the unmet demand for innovative drugs is increasing.
Based on this, looking forward to the future, the development of the oncology drug market presents the following trends:
Chronic cancer management. Cancer would be seen as a chronic disease similar to diabetes and high blood pressure. Cancer requires not only hospitalization, but also follow-up rehabilitation, monitoring, and maintenance after discharge. Therefore, there is a growing need for more convenient and effective treatments.
An ever-expanding combination of therapies. Combination therapy will become a development trend because it will bring better therapeutic effect, which points out the future development direction of cancer therapy globally and in China. Clinical studies have shown that the combination of PD-1/PD-L1 antibodies with chemotherapy, targeted therapy (including VEGF pathway inhibitors) or other types of immunotherapy can significantly improve the efficacy.
Precise treatment. With the development of gene sequencing technology, the improvement of detection efficiency and the identification of biomarkers (which indicates that there is new development space for tumor treatment), precise immunotherapy can be carried out according to the patient's own tumor status. Biomarker-based asymptomatic therapy of tumor tissue is possible, leading to improved response rates and hopefully improved cancer patient survival.
Indications expanded. Due to the excellent therapeutic effect in the approved indications, the clinical efficacy and potential of PD-1/PD-L1 antibodies in new indications are being continuously explored. For example, Opdivo, the world's first PD-1 inhibitor, was initially approved for melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). It was then expanded due to its efficacy in the treatment of classic Hodgkin lymphoma, MSI-H/dMMR colorectal cancer, urothelial cancer and head and neck cancer. It is foreseeable that in the future, due to continuous clinical exploration, immunotherapy will be explored in more tumor treatment fields, bringing new treatment options to more patients.
Emerging innovative therapies. Today, emerging innovative therapies such as peptide vaccines have been recognized as potentially effective treatments for specific cancer subgroups. The understanding of basic cancer biology has grown exponentially, and clinical advances have been driven by the increasing sophistication of genetic engineering and the use of synthetic biology in controlled cell therapy.
The increasing affordability of high-priced innovative medicines. The average disposable income of Chinese residents is expected to continue to grow rapidly, which will increase patients' willingness and ability to pay for high-priced medicines. Rising per capita disposable income will increase acceptance of more expensive medical modalities and increase access to innovative medicines.
Immunotherapy has become the main development direction of cancer treatment, and YB1 oncolytic bacteria leads the industry segment
With the increasing incidence and mortality of cancer worldwide, it becomes more urgent to seek more effective technologies and methods to treat cancer. In addition to traditional treatment methods such as surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the continuous development of innovative immunotherapy has gradually become the main direction in the field of cancer treatment. CAR-T cell therapy and oncolytic virus immunotherapy are in the ascendant. Bacterial immunotherapy has brought new hope to the global cancer treatment field.
At present, the world's first oncolytic bacterial carrier was successfully developed by Hong Kong Pharmaceutical Oncolytic Company. In 2011, the company's core team realized the Salmonella Lambda-RED efficient programming technology for the first time in research, and established the foundation for the transformation of Salmonella's synthetic biology. After a development cycle of more than 10 years, the R&D team successfully invented a genetically programmed strain of oncolytic Salmonella typhimurium, and named it YB1.
YB1 is the first strain specially designed for the treatment of tumors using synthetic biology technology. In addition to the oncolytic properties, it also has a strong drug carrying ability. The team's research shows that as a carrier, oncolytic bacteria YB1 can efficiently present and carry "weapons" including antibodies, mRNA, protein drugs, oncolytic viruses, etc. A large amount of replication and amplification is achieved inside the tumor, which greatly increases the concentration of YB1 vector at the target site of solid tumors.
After YB1 reaches the inside of the tumor, it releases a variety of therapeutic "warhead" drugs, which can inhibit tumor growth and cause tumor lysis, and at the same time can eliminate tumor metastasis, which has great potential for clinical application. At present, Hong Kong Drug Oncolytic has laid out 7 product pipelines for the application of YB1 in the field of tumor immunotherapy, leading the development of the current sub-field of tumor immunotherapy industry.
In addition to its application in the field of tumor immunotherapy, YB1 can also be used in various thrombosis treatments. YB1-rt-PA is our first-generation fixed-point thrombus ablation product. The main feature is that it is carried by YB1 and releases urokinase at the thrombus site to achieve the effect of rapid and fixed-point release of thrombolytic drugs. In addition, the company has also deployed two YB1 thrombolytic drug products carrying defibrase and plasmin.
In the future, Hong Kong Medicine Oncolytic will continue to deepen its exploration in the field of tumor targeted therapy, accelerate the human clinical trial research of YB1 oncolytic bacterial immunotherapy, and its development as a macromolecule drug delivery system for different tumor and thrombotic disease treatment product pipelines. Develop and expand to benefit more patients.
