Recently, pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline announced the decision to stop clinical trials on the MAGE-A3 cancer vaccine, after the Phase III study failed to identify a sub-population who would actively benefit from the immunotherapy.
Glaxo’s decision serves to highlight the inherent complications of the drug development business—what might look promising during initial development may never see the light of day in a clinical trial. Stringent regulations governing the development and manufacturing of new therapeutic vaccines can actually be a major hurdle for growth of the relatively new Global Therapeutic Vaccines Market.
But while setbacks can be expected, they don’t seem to be doing much to dissuade overall market growth, which is forging ahead with a CAGR of 62.81 percent from 2014-2018.
In fact, there are more than 400 therapeutic vaccines currently being clinically tested to treat various cancers, as well as HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s and even allergies. According to TechNavio analysts, once these vaccines are approved for use, the Global Therapeutic Vaccines Market could grow by more than 50 percent every year.
Therapeutic vaccines are biological combinations developed to both treat disease and prevent it from reoccurring. These differ from the prophylactic variety in that the latter is administered with the sole intention of prevention, while therapeutic vaccines are given to someone who already has the disease, with a view to increasing the body’s immune response and stopping the disease from coming back. This is particularly exciting in terms of cancer treatment, as it opens the door to less invasive treatments that are able to specifically target diseased cells and tissue.
While canning the MAGE-A3 vaccine is a definite setback (and resulted in a 0.56% drop in GlaxoSmithKline’s shares), it is hardly indicative of Glaxo’s overall portfolio.
The company spent about US$6.4 billion on R&D last year, and received five new drug approvals, which accounted for about 20% of new FDA approvals in 2013.
Companies like Glaxo, and other veterans of the drug development game have undertaken some strategic moves recently in order to boost their profile in the therapeutic vaccines segment.
Last May, GlaxoSmithKline acquired Okairos AG, a specialist developer of vaccine platform technologies, for US$325 million, enabling it to develop therapeutic vaccines.
Even the MAGE-A3 isn’t quite done yet—researchers are still investigating the potential of the immunotherapy for treatment of melanoma. Additionally, the company is investigating the PRAME therapeutic vaccine for resectable non-small cell lung cancer.
So while hiccups can be expected and admittedly costly, mergers, acquisitions, new discoveries and a heck of a lot coming down the pipeline are a perfect combination for growth of the therapeutic vaccine market over the projected period.
For more insights, view our Global Therapeutic Vaccines Market 2014-2018 report.
