Novartis advancing oncology with target-based cancer drugs

SINGAPORE – Novartis Oncology is mapping the path in precision oncology as the global cancer epidemic is expected to affect to 21.4 million people in the next 15 years.

According to John Ketchum, Novartis Oncology senior vice president and head of emerging growth markets, the number of cancer cases could rise to 21.4 million by 2030, from 12.7 million in 2008.

Death tolls will also grow from 7.6 million to 13.2 million.

“The irony for this part of the world is that if you look at western countries, if you look at America, the incidence of cancer is going down. The growth is driven entirely by the developing world …. Asia accounts for half of the global burden of cancer,” Ketchum said in a media briefing here Thursday.

In Asia, there were some 6.1 million cancer cases in 2008, including 4.1 million deaths. By 2030, this is expected to increase to 10.6 million cases including 7.5 million deaths.

By 2025, the burden of cancer in Asia is expected to increase by 45 percent among men and 35 percent among women.

The decrease in cases in the West was attributed to the significant reduction in smoking, which “primarily aggravated” a lot of cancer cases.

Other factors include educating people to avoid risky behaviors that lead to cancer, and screening programs so cancer is diagnosed and captured early, making it much easier to treat.

In Asia, the increase in cases was blamed on the adoption of unhealthy lifestyle habits like smoking, physical inactivity and poor nutrition.

“The pattern you see in Asia is different because of environmental factors. There are fewer prevention programs than in the west. Also, less diagnostic capabilities, reduced access to therapy, fewer cancer clinics, and newest medicines are not always available,” Ketchum said.

He said Novartis is committed to working with the government, healthcare industry and other stakeholders “to try to address this problem or to make it better.”

The pharmaceutical firm is working to come up with better cancer medicine by also considering the “economic reality” in Asia, he said.

Ketchum added that with the recent acquisition of GlaxoSmithKline’s oncology portfolio, Novartis Oncology is uniquely positioned to address the significant and evolving needs of cancer patients in Asia.

Precision oncology

In a separate presentation, Mar- garet Dugan, senior vice president and head of the global program of Novartis Oncology, said the Novartis portfolio is bringing new hope to people with cancer through precision oncology.

Dugan said that cancer treatments are not for all patients. Resistance can develop and tumors can come back.

Because of this, there is a need to develop combination therapies to completely destroys these tumors.

Currently, the traditional treatment protocol for cancer is chemotherapy, but it attacks both the cancer cells and the normal cells.

“We are now trying to change that paradigm of how we treat cancer,” Dugan said.