Singapore: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) therapeutics market in Asia-Pacific (APAC) is estimated to grow double from USD49.4 million in 2013 to USD105.8 million by 2020, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.5 percent, according to market analyst GBI Research.

Glioblastoma multiforme is a common and aggressive malignant primary brain tumor in humans. The growth in therapy market is resulted from the anticipated approval and market entries of Rindopepimut, Cotara and Avastin in APAC countries in the coming years.

Mr Vijaya Vulapalli, senior analyst, GBI Research, commented, "The APAC region boasts a strong GBM pipeline, which also includes carmustine implants, currently being developed in China. Novel therapies Rindopepimut and Cotara in particular could have a significant bearing on APAC's GBM treatment landscape.

"Phase II clinical studies of Rindopepimut demonstrated a relatively high median Overall Survival (OS) rate among patients. Meanwhile, Cotara's Phase II studies showed similar OS to Avastin, with slightly more progression-free survival improvement in recurrent GBM. As a single-infusion therapy, Cotara is likely to become an effective second-line treatment option for patients."

However, GBI Research states that even if the therapies prove successful in late-stage clinical trials, they will experience low uptake in their respective markets due to their high prices and lack of patient access to medicines, mainly in China and India.

Furthermore, APAC's GBM treatment space is still expected to require new drugs with better efficacy and improved prognosis.

Mr Vulapalli continues, "One of the key reasons for the lack of efficacy exhibited by most therapies is their inability to penetrate the blood-brain barrier, and an urgent unmet need will remain over the forecast period for drugs that can achieve this.

"Efficacy also remains low because therapeutic resistance develops due to the disease heterogeneity, which is believed to be increased by genetic variations arising from mutations. A combined therapy that acts on multiple tumor signaling pathways, rather than a single molecular target, may therefore be more effective and result in a better prognosis," the analyst concludes.