Market Spotlight: Thyroid Cancer
Disease Overview
This Market Spotlight report covers the Thyroid cancer market, comprising key pipeline and
marketed drugs, clinical trials, upcoming and regulatory events, patent information, a 10-
year disease incidence forecast, and licensing and acquisition deals, as well as presenting
drug-specific revenue forecasts.
Key Takeaways:
Datamonitor Healthcare estimates that in 2016 there were 312,000 incident cases of thyroid
cancer worldwide, and forecasts that number to increase to 342,000 incident cases by 2025.
Asia is estimated to have the highest disease incidence, while Oceania has the lowest
incidence. The approved drugs in the thyroid cancer space focus on a variety of targets.
These drugs are commonly administered via the oral route, with one product being available
in intramuscular formulation.
A majority of industry-sponsored drugs in active clinical development for thyroid cancer are
in Phase II, with only one drug in Phase III.
Therapies in mid-to-late-stage development for thyroid cancer focus on targets such as
mitogen-activated ERK kinase, microtubules (tubulin), carcinoembryonic antigen, Raf
kinase, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, RET, and ErbB3/HER3. The majority of the drugs in
mid-to-late-stage development for thyroid cancer are administered via the oral route, with
the remainder being intravenous or subcutaneous.
High-impact upcoming events for drugs in the thyroid cancer space include topline Phase II
and Phase III trial results. There were 10 licensing and asset acquisition activities involving
thyroid cancer drugs during 2012–17. The largest deal during that time was the $1,119.0m
exclusive licensing agreement in February 2016 between Exelixis and Ipsen, for the
commercialization and further development of Cometriq (cabozantinib).
Nexavar’s sales ranked highest among drugs available for thyroid cancer during 2012–16,
and revenues are expected to remain high until 2019.
The clinical trials distribution across Phase I–IV indicates that the majority of trials for
thyroid cancer have been in early and midphases of development, with 92% of trials in
Phase I–II, and only 8% in Phase III–IV.
The US has a substantial lead in the number of thyroid cancer clinical trials globally. France
leads the major EU markets, while Japan has the top spot in Asia.
Clinical trial activity in the thyroid cancer space is dominated by completed trials. Pfizer,
GlaxoSmithKline, and AstraZeneca have the highest number of completed clinical trials for
thyroid cancer, with 25, 22, and 20 completed trials, respectively.
Novartis leads industry sponsors with the highest number of clinical trials for thyroid cancer,
followed by Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline.