Lung cancer affects more than 1.2 million patients a year, with around 1.1 million deaths annually and 500,000 in the US, Europe and Japan. Find out more about market developments in this chapter of Cancer Drug Discoveries. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is one of the leading causes of death, resulting in the worst survival rates for all cancers and killing more patients than breast, colon and prostate cancer together, accounting for nearly 30% of all cancer deaths. According to the WHO, NSCLC affects more than 1.2 million patients a year, with around 1.1 million deaths annually and around 500,000 in the US, Europe and Japan.

The NSCLC market was estimated to be worth US$3.7 billion in 2006 with a growth rate of 14% YoY. According to PhRMA it is one of the most actively researched cancers with nearly 100 drugs in the US being evaluated in clinical trials during 2006.

As researchers begin to understand the processes involved in NSCLC formation several new targeted therapies have evolved which modulate growth factor pathways. Two small-molecular tyrosine kinase inhibitors, Iressa (AstraZeneca) and Tarceva (Roche/Genentech/OSI Pharmaceuticals), and the anti-angiogenic vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitor, Avastin (Roche/Genentech/Chugai), are gaining credence in third-line therapy and are beginning to migrate to second-line therapy.

By 2012, we anticipate at least four new chemotherapeutic agents will be launched including sanofi-aventis' Eloxatin, Hana Biosciences' Talvesta, Cell Therapeutics/Novartis' Xyotax and AstraZeneca/Abraxis BioScience's Abraxane. These may have been approved to be used in combination with existing treatment protocols and in some cases may replace older products.

Key questions answered include:
The addressable NSCLC market will increase by 17% by 2012 - what are the factors driving this?
By 2012, products yet to be launched will account for over 50% of global NSCLC drug sales. What are they, who's developing them and when are they expected to launch?
What are the prospects for CancerVax, Biomira, Alfacell, Transgene and others in the hotly contested NSCLC vaccine market?
How will the newer cytotoxics such as Eloxatin (sanofi-aventis) and satraplatin (GPC Biotech/ Pharmion/Spectrum Pharmaceuticals) fare against currently available therapies?
CURRENT PRODUCTS EVALUATED AND FORECAST
CHEMOTHERAPY
Taxotere (sanofi-aventis)
Taxol (BMS)
Navelbine (GSK)
Gemzar (Eli Lilly)
Alimta (Eli Lilly)

TARGETED THERAPIES
Iressa (AstraZeneca)
Tarceva (Roche/Genentech)
Avastin (Roche/Genentech/Chugai)

UP AND COMING PRODUCTS EVALUATED
PHASE III
Recentin (AstraZeneca)
Eloxatin (sanofi-aventis)
Erbitux (BMS/Merck Serono/ImClone Systems)
PF-3,512,676 (Pfizer/Coley Pharmaceutical)
Stimuvax (Merck Serono/ Biomira)
Talabostat (Point Therapeutics)
Xyotax (Novartis/Chugai/Cell Therapeutics)
Zactima (AstraZeneca)

PHASE II
Abraxane (AstraZeneca/
Abraxis BioScience)
EP-2101 (IDM Pharma)
Matuzumab (Merck Serono/ Takeda)
Onconase (Alfacell)
Satraplatin (GPC Biotech/Pharmion/Spectrum Pharmaceuticals)
Talvesta (Hana Biosciences)
TG4010 (Transgene)
¨ Velcade (J&J/Millennium Pharmaceuticals).