Oncology, central nervous system (CNS) disorders and infectious diseases account for 68% of the overall pharmaceutical industry pipeline, according to a new market research report.
Undertaken by GBI Research, the findings show that the top three therapeutic areas constitute the majority of drugs actively under development as of the first quarter of 2016, with oncology the largest therapy area by far.
Almost 7,000 new cancer products are in the works, nearly double the respective totals of CNS and infectious disease products currently lined up.
Managing analyst for GBI Research Dominic Trewartha said this industry-wide trend is due to the “substantial patient populations and strong unmet needs within the indications that account for the majority of patients in each areas”.
He added that the rapid expansion in oncology in particular was fed by pipeline growth in breast, colorectal and lung cancer – the area’s three largest indications – each of which increased by over 15%.
The report – called Innovation Tracking Factbook 2016 – also found that the pipeline activity for the pharmaceutical industry as a whole increased by 5% this year, with the majority of major indications having grown in comparison with 2015.
Cardiovascular diseases, immunology and metabolic disorders, for example, each have over 1,000 products in pipelines.
The vast majority of pipeline products are currently in early-stage development and are yet to demonstrate both safety and efficacy, however the sheer size of the overall pipeline indicates “a steady stream of incremental and breakthrough innovation” across markets in the near future, Trewartha concluded.