“Top 15” List Predicts Best-Selling Cancer Drugs in 2022

FiercePharma has compiled a list of the top 15 cancer medications that are expected to dominate the oncology market in 2022. According to the report, oncology drugs remain the fastest-growing category in pharma, with anticipated sales of approximately $90 billion over the next five years.

Among the top six drugs on the list, three are from the highly touted programmed death-1/programmed death ligand-1 (PD-1/PD-L1) or checkpoint inhibitor class. Drugs in this class activate the immune system, enabling it to recognize cancer cells and destroy them.

However, while the checkpoint inhibitor class has ascended, nine of the 15 top-selling drugs in 2022 will still be monoclonal antibodies, FiercePharma predicts. First approved in the late 1990s, these therapies quickly became the preferred option for various cancers. Three of them—all first-generation cancer antibodies from Roche—are due to face biosimilar competition within the next couple of years.

Here are the 15 drugs that FiercePharma foresees as being the dominant players on the oncology scene in 2022:

1. Revlimid (lenalidomide, Celgene): Thalidomide analogue. Current indications: multiple myeloma, myelodysplastic syndromes, and mantle cell lymphoma. New indications, including newly diagnosed multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, are expected in the near future.
2. Opdivo (nivolumab, Bristol-Myers Squibb): PD-1 inhibitor. Current indications: non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), metastatic melanoma, renal cell carcinoma, and classical Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
3. Imbruvica (ibrutinib, Pharmacyclics/Janssen): Kinase inhibitor. Current indications: chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), mantle cell lymphoma, and Waldenström macroglobulinemia.
4. Keytruda (pembrolizumab, Merck): PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor. Current indications: advanced melanoma, NSCLC, and head-and-neck squamous cell cancer.
5. Ibrance (palbociclib, Pfizer): Kinase inhibitor. Current indication: metastatic breast cancer.
6. Tecentriq (atezolizumab, Roche): PD-L1 inhibitor. Current indications: urothelial carcinoma and NSCLC.
7. Darzalex (daratumumab, Johnson & Johnson): CD38-directed cytolytic antibody. Current indication: multiple myeloma.
8. Perjeta (pertuzumab, Roche): Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)/neu receptor antagonist (antibody). Current indication: HER2-positive breast cancer.
9. Xtandi (enzalutamide, Astellas Pharma/Pfizer): Androgen receptor inhibitor. Current indication: advanced prostate cancer.
10. Avastin (bevacizumab, Genentech): Vascular endothelial growth factor-specific angiogenesis inhibitor (antibody). Current indications: colorectal cancer, NSCLC, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, renal cell carcinoma, and glioblastoma.
11. Herceptin (trastuzumab, Genentech): HER2/neu receptor antagonist (antibody). Current indications: breast cancer and gastric cancer.
12. Gazyva (obinutuzumab, Genentech): CD20-directed cytolytic antibody. Current indications: CLL and follicular lymphoma.
13. Jakafi (ruxolitinib, Incyte/Novartis): Kinase inhibitor. Current indications: polycythemia vera and myelofibrosis.
14. Venclexta (venetoclax, AbbVie/Genentech): BCL-2 inhibitor (antibody). Current indication: CLL.
15. Rituxan (rituximab, Genentech): CD20-directed cytolytic antibody. Current indications: CLL and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Source: FiercePharma (link is external); January 17, 2017.