Singapore: Prostate cancer is becoming increasingly common due to globally growing numbers of elderly men, and scientists are fighting to create new treatment options for patients with advanced disease, states a new report by healthcare experts GlobalData.

The new report states that the prostate cancer market has historically been dominated by chemotherapies and hormone therapies, with major players including AstraZeneca, which market the hormone therapies Zoladex (goserelin acetate) and Casodex (bicalutamide), and Sanofi, which market the popular chemotherapies Taxotere (docetaxel) and Jevtana (cabazitaxel).

Hormone therapies will continue to be a mainstay of prostate cancer treatment, but the role of chemotherapies will be reduced as targeted therapies like Johnson & Johnson's Zytiga (abiraterone acetate) and Medivation/Astellas' Xtandi (enzalutamide) become the most popular treatment options for metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer (mCRPC). While patients with early stage prostate cancer can often be cured with surgery and radiation therapy, the cancer suffered by mCRPC patients is incurable, and they often suffer from painful symptoms related to bone metastases.

However, recent market entrants J&J's Zytiga and Medivation/Astellas' Xtandi fulfill the unmet need for oral mCRPC therapies that extend overall survival and have positive safety and side effect profiles. Another promising pipeline drug, Bayer/Algeta's Alpharadin (radium-223 chloride), also extends overall survival, has an excellent safety and side effects profile, lessens the likelihood of Skeletal-Related Events (SREs), and eases bone pain.

GlobalData predict that Zytiga and Xtandi will dominate the mCRPC space, expecting peak Zytiga sales of $1.7 billion in 2018, and Xtandi sales increasing to $2.05 billion by 2022. However, increasing pressures to prove cost-effectiveness could restrain growth in the prostate cancer market, particularly in Europe, as reimbursement hurdles and price cuts will limit the premium pricing and uptake of new drugs.