Cancer Biomarkers Players, products and prospects

Part of Espicom' s new 3-volume report on Cancer, CNS and Cardiovascular Biomarkers, this volume provides a comprehensive analysis of the cancer biomarker sector, along with a critical assessment of the companies involved.

The cancer biomarker market represents one of the largest segments of biomarkers in terms of revenue. In 2007, the estimated cancer biomarker market accounted for around 55% of biomarker revenues at over US$3 billion, with the majority of revenues derived from biomarker discovery and molecular diagnostics.

This market is relatively mature due to researchers' comprehensive understanding of the underlying genetic and proteomic components of the disease. It has been the focus for the majority of the early biomarker research which was aimed at the discovery and identification of biomarkers that guided the development of targeted therapies (companion diagnostics) and has been stimulated by advances in technology platforms for the analysis of biological samples (blood, serum and tissue).

During the last two years, the leading pharma companies such as Abbott, AstraZeneca, Eisai, Merck & Co, sanofi-aventis, Solvay, Pfizer, Roche and Wyeth have been forming strategic alliances with a variety of companies, including Caprion Proteomics, Celera, Epigenomics, EpiStem, Monogram BioSciences (formerly ViroLogic) and Vermillion which are all actively involved in biomarker discovery and validation.

Many of these agreements have been established in the last 12 months and pursue the identification of multiple oncology biomarkers that complement pharma product pipelines. For example, in March 2008 Abbott established a collaboration with Genentech, Roche and OSI to develop an EGFR FISH based test for NSCLC testing. Similarly, specialty pharma companies such as Amgen, Myriad and OSI Pharmaceuticals have formed collaborations to utilise biomarkers in drug discovery and development programmes.

Increasingly, the industry is establishing relationships with leading academic institutes to clinically validate biomarkers prior to their use in clinical drug development programmes. For example, in the US, the Eastern Virginia Medical School, the Johns Hopkins University, The University of Kentucky, the Mayo Clinic, and the MD Anderson Cancer Center and, in Europe, the Institut Curie in France and the University of Oxford in the UK are all assessing new cancer biomarkers and technology platforms for biomarker discovery and validation.

• What will the global cancer biomarker market be worth in 2015?
• What developments in proteomic biomarkers are proving fruitful in the cancer sector and which companies are developing them?
• Why might drug discovery companies be interested in Dutch diagnostic company Agendia BV?
• How is Beckman Coulter strengthening its presence in the cancer biomarker arena?

• Increases in the number of new cases of a range of cancers due to an aging population, e.g. prostate, breast and ovarian cancers. These will continue to drive growth and research interest in cancer therapies and investigation into the underlying mechanisms of the disease.
• Improvements in diagnostic tests and technology platforms to direct treatment and surgery which instil confidence and renewed interest in developing PoC diagnostics, e.g. EPCA/PSA tests for prostate cancer and HER-2 for breast cancer.
• The development of easy-to-use and rapid PoC diagnostics that may help to increase the number of cancer patients treated with first line therapy.

• Abbott Diagnostics
• Affymetrix
• Agendia BV
• AltheaDx
• AVEO Pharmaceuticals
• AviaraDx
• BD Medicine
• Beckman Coulter Inc
• BioCurex Inc
• Biomedical Diagnostics
• Biomerica
• Bruker Daltonics
• Caprion Proteomics
• Celera
• Clinical Data Inc
• Dako Denmark A/S
• DxS Ltd.
• Epigenomics AG
• EpiStem
• Fujirebio Diagnostics
• Gen-Probe Inc
• Genomics Health Inc
• GeneNews
• Genzyme Genetics
• InterGenetics Inc
• Ipsogen Therapeutics
• Laboratory Corporation of America
• Matritech Inc
• Monogram Biosciences Inc
• Orion Genomics Inc
• Oxford Genome Sciences (UK) Ltd
• Power3 Medical Products
• Predictive Biosciences
• Provista Life Sciences
• Quest Diagnostics Inc
• Roche Diagnostics
• SuperArray Bioscience Corporation
• Third Wave Technologies
• Upstream Biosciences Inc
• Veridex
• Vermillion