Drugs to Watch report: 15 blockbusters for 2023
Clarivate study highlights treatments with blockbuster potential | IV, Parkinson’s disease, Crohn’s disease, alopecia, multiple myeloma and breast cancer make the list | Nine blockbusters from China also predicted.
The market is set to welcome 15 therapeutics with the potential to achieve ‘blockbuster’ status, a new report has revealed.
Clarivate’s Drugs to Watch report, published on January 10, defines blockbusters as those that could hit $1 billion annual sales within the next five years.
The analytics provider’s report details more than 70 drugs with the potential to transform treatment methods and fulfil previously unmet patient needs.
Dominating the list are treatments targeted to a particular biomarker, which ensure greater efficacy and faster responses to tackling disease.
Personalised medicines have been advancing quickly, accounting for more than 25% of approvals from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over the last seven years.
The developments hold promise for treating millions of patients worldwide living with conditions such as HIV, Parkinson’s disease, Crohn’s disease, alopecia, multiple myeloma and breast cancer.
Breast cancer and HIV treatments
Out of the 70 drugs analysed, the 15 potential blockbusters include AstraZeneca’s breast cancer treatment, Capivasertib, which blocks activity of the cancer-driving protein molecule AKT. It has seen positive results for patients with the disease in early-phase trials and phase 3 trials are underway.
Gilead Sciences is marked for success with Lenacapavir, a long-acting HIV-1 capsid inhibitor that has been approved in Europe to treat multi-drug resistant HIV.
Its take-up is expected to benefit from the infrequent dosing and self-administration required, and it is under evaluation by the FDA.
Also expected to hit the $1 billion sales threshold is Eli Lilly and Company’s Mirikizumab. It is likely to be first-in-class for treating ulcerative colitis and third in the class approved for Crohn’s disease.
The other candidates on the list of potential game-changers are Bimekizumab by UCB, Daprodustat by GSK, Deucravacitinib by Bristol Myers Squibb, Foscarbidopa/foslevodopa by AbbVie, Leqembi by Eisai and Biogen, Donanemab by Eli Lilly and Company, Pegcetacoplan by Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Ritlecitinib by Pfizer, Sparsentan by Travere Therapeutics, Teclistamab by Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, Teplizumab by Provention Bio and Valoctocogene roxaparvovec by BioMarin Pharmaceutical.
China’s blockbusters
The report also pinpoints nine potential blockbuster drugs emerging in China that are likely to achieve $1 billion annual sales by 2030, including those manufactured both domestically and globally. The country has been taking steps to reduce the burden of cancer on the healthcare system and eight of these are oncology drugs.
Also detailed in the report is the industry’s progress regarding the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These goals set out the urgency of addressing diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria, as well as tackling issues including maternal mortality, mental illness and substance abuse.
Mike Ward, global head of life sciences and healthcare thought leadership at Clarivate, said: “While R&D productivity remained a challenge for pharma in 2022, the FDA only approved 37 new molecular entities during the year, we might expect the approval rate to recover in 2023 to pre-pandemic levels.
"While oncology remains a key focus for the industry, as the latest edition of Drugs to Watch shows, we can also expect to see approvals and launches for medicines in other disease areas.”
The full report can be accessed here.
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