Factors promoting the market’s growth include steady increases in the number of incident breast cancer cases, shifts toward higher-cost chemotherapy and hormonal regimens in the adjuvant setting and increases in the use of targeted therapies following novel product launches and label extensions.
“The value of the Brazilian breast cancer drug market in 2009 (US$ 424 million) rivals those in some major pharmaceutical markets like United Kingdom and Japan and greatly exceeds breast cancer drug sales in other emerging markets (China, India, Russia),” stated Decision Resources’ Therapeutic Area Director Kate Hohenberg.
“A well-established public healthcare system that pays the cost of drug therapy for eligible patients and a small but lucrative pool of privately insured patients support Brazil’s sizeable breast cancer drug market.”
The new Emerging Markets report entitled Breast Cancer in Brazil also finds that given the drawbacks and limitations of current treatments and Brazilian physicians’ enthusiasm for novel approaches in hard-to-treat patient segments (e.g., triple-negative breast cancer), emerging breast cancer therapies will be well received in Brazil.
Two novel agents – Roche’s trastuzumab-DM1 and Sanofi-Aventis’s BSI-201 – are expected to launch in Brazil towards the end of 2014.
“By the end of our five-year forecast period (2009-2014), we expect two novel breast cancer agents to launch in Brazil – Roche’s trastuzumab-DM1 and Sanofi-Aventis’s BSI-201. These launches will be facilitated by the low regulatory hurdle (additional domestic clinical trials are not required) and physicians’ receptivity to new therapies for underserved segments of the breast cancer market,” added Ms. Hohenberg.
The new reports features extensive primary research of physicians and epidemiology study, with analysis of trends in major Brazilian cities – Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Brasília, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba and Salvador – and the country overall.