Resistance to Long-Term Treatment for GIST Increases Need for Research

Monday 2 July 2012, Amsterdam

Current treatments for gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) are failing to keep the condition under control on a long-term basis, according to the new Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GIST) Therapeutics - Pipeline Assessment and Market Forecasts to 2019 report.

The report shows that patients undertaking established therapies for gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) often develop a resistance following long-term use.

This means the race is on to find new treatments, before drug resistance begins to increase patient mortality.

There are only two drugs treatment options presently available for GIST: Gleevec (imatinib mesylate) from Novartis Pharmaceuticals is used as the first line of therapy and adjuvant therapy for primary GIST patients, while Sutent (sunitinib) from Pfizer provides the second line of therapy for metastatic or unresectable GIST patients.

Although these two agents cater well to patients needs, if resistance is developed, no other treatment options are available. GlobalData’s analysis suggests that, as a result, doctors could benefit from more treatment options, as patients often develop resistance to Gleevec and Sutent following a certain amount of drug use.

In terms of pharmaceutical development, this creates an opportunity for new treatments to enter the market, as any new drug able to cater to this untreated, resistant patient pool would reap huge medical and financial rewards.

A strong pipeline is hoped to increase the number of future treatment options for Gleevec and Sutent-resistant patients, with this analysis showing that the GIST therapeutics pipeline holds 30 molecules in various phases of clinical development. These include 28 first-in-class molecules, and four late-stage molecules, namely Avastin, regorafenib, masitinib, and Tasigna (nilotinib). All have shown good efficacy results in earlier clinical studies for resistant and refractory GIST patients, and are expected to be launched in the forecast period to address the current unmet needs in the GIST market.

The report estimates that the Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GIST) therapeutics market was worth $946.5m in 2011, but will decline to $820m by 2019 due to the patent expiry of Gleevec in 2015.

This report identifies the key trends shaping and driving the market, and provides insights on the prevalent competitive landscape and the emerging players expected to significantly alter the positioning of current market leaders. Most importantly, it provides valuable insights on the pipeline products within the global GIST sector.

This report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, primary and secondary research, and in-house analysis by a team of industry experts.