Novotech Publishes Precision Oncology Landscape Whitepaper Identifying Current Trends and Opportunities in Targeted Therapies

Boston, USA - Novotech, the global full-service clinical Contract Research Organization (CRO) that partners with biotech companies to accelerate the development of advanced and novel therapeutics at every phase, has released an insightful whitepaper, Precision Oncology - Global Clinical Trial Landscape, providing the latest research insights for cancer treatments. 

The Novotech research analyst team provides these expert reports on a monthly basis, completely free of charge. These reports offer current insights into global clinical trial activity, revealing which regions experience the highest trial volumes and the factors behind these trends. They tackle the hurdles faced by biotech firms in specific therapeutic areas and discuss future paths in therapy and investment trends. 

Precision oncology, or personalized medicine, involves the use of biomarker testing to identify the driver mutations of a patient’s cancer and actionable biomarkers for targeted therapy treatment. This evolution in oncology treatment can improve patient outcomes and reduce the use of chemotherapy in some cancers. 

The Precision Oncology - Global Clinical Trial Landscape whitepaper is designed for researchers, clinicians, pharmaceutical, biopharma and biotech firms. It presents a thorough analysis of healthcare, technology, macroeconomic, regulatory trends, SWOT analysis, funding, and innovative research developments in precision oncology. 

The report provides a detailed review of the current precision oncology landscape including standout trials, important trends around FDA approvals, funding initiatives, and ongoing insights impacting research and development.  It is designed to positively impact and inform clinical trial decision-making that ultimately improves the rate of new treatments reaching the market. 

Importantly, the report examines how the rise of personalized medicine has led to innovative clinical trial strategies. “Adaptive trials, basket trials, and umbrella trials have emerged, allowing for more targeted patient grouping based on biomarkers. These trial designs not only accelerate drug development but also reduce costs. Consequently, vast amounts of clinical data is available for analysis, with initiatives like KEYNOTE, IMpower, and CheckMate evaluating the efficacy of precision medicine therapies, many of which have now become standard care protocols,” according to the report. 

Furthermore, this whitepaper looks at the potential of person​​alized approaches using individual genetic information for prevention, diagnosis and treatment.  

The report also analysed the more than 10,000 trials initiated from 2019-2023 and found 30% focused on precision oncology, demonstrating the growing importance of targeted therapies in cancer research. Asia-Pacific led trial distribution with 39%, followed by North America (31%), Europe (21%), and Rest of World (9%).  

The regional growth rates (CAGR) found that North America was leading the charge at 9.5%, closely followed by Asia-Pacific at 7.3% and contrasting with a slower rate of 0.5% in Europe. 

Key takeaways from the report include: 

• Over 60 % of cancer drugs authorized by regulatory agencies like the FDA and/or EMA now carry pharmacogenomic labels, reflecting a significant increase in clinically actionable biomarkers. 
• As of November 2023, the FDA has approved twelve treatments for unique biomarker-selected indications. 
• The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines have incorporated six biomarker and indication-specific treatments in the past year. 
• The Asia-Pacific region stands out for its efficiency, with the shortest median enrollment period (19.07 months) and the highest recruitment rate (0.64 subjects per site per month) - potentially linked to a higher prevalence of cancer or population dynamics.  
• There’s opportunity for potential druggable targets in precision oncology. One-third of human proteins are unstudied, and only 3% targeted by approved drugs.  
• Global funding drives precision oncology advancements and supports initiatives like the US Government’s Cancer Moonshot, Europe’s PCM4EU and PRIME-ROSE revolutionize cancer care. 
• The sector attracts substantial VC backed funding - approximately $9 billion in the US alone. 
• There are limitations of small molecule treatments, constituting 60% of FDA-approved drugs, because they benefited only 7%-8% of cancer patients.  

​​​Download the report here