Reality of Universal Cancer Prevention & Cure

Oncology is the largest pharmaceutical therapeutic area, and big pharma is investing billions of dollars in search of the elusive cancer cure. With all this investment and innovation, will we ever see a universal cancer cure? Let’s find out.

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Oncology treatment has come a long way since the advent of chemotherapy in the 1940s. There have been tremendous advancements in the field of oncology, especially over the last two decades, resulting in improved quality of life and survival rates. There are more than 1,300 medicines and vaccines in development to tackle cancer, as of January 2021 (source: PhRMA). Many innovative therapies have been launched and pharmaceutical companies continue to invest significantly in oncology research to advance the cancer treatment market.

“Cancer has undergone huge changes in the last five years as new treatments that harness the immune system to restore the balance between cancer cells and healthy cells have been extensively evaluated. Drugs like PD-1/L1 inhibitors have revolutionised the treatment of late-stage melanoma, lung cancer and renal cancer, dramatically improving five-year survival rates,” said Daniel Chancellor, Thought Leadership Director, Informa Pharma Intelligence, UK.

“We also now have genetically modified cell therapies that produce impressive response rates for advanced forms of blood cancer. More generally, cancer populations are being defined not just by the tumor location but by an ever-growing list of biomarkers that have relevance for prognosis and the selection of appropriate targeted therapies. Chemotherapy is still an essential part of cancer treatment, but is increasingly being displaced or supplemented by innovative new cancer drugs,” added Chancellor.

The focus of cancer treatment is rapidly shifting from a traditional one-size-fits-all approach to precision medicine, tailored treatments for individual patients. Let’s look at the next wave of innovations making headlines in the cancer space:

Next wave of innovations