Colorectal Cancer (Third-Line Advanced/Metastatic) | Decision Base | US | 2015
How Receptive Are Physicians and Payers to Premium-Priced Emerging Therapies in This Underserved Market?
Patients with advanced/metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) typically receive chemotherapy (with or without biologics) as treatment, which increases overall survival (OS) but can also lead to severe toxicities. Patients in the third-line setting have limited therapeutic options and typically have a reduced quality of life; therefore, physicians must carefully balance any efficacy benefit associated with a therapy with its toxicity profile. The launch of regorafenib (Bayer HealthCare’s Stivarga) and the anticipated launch of TAS-102 (Taiho Pharmaceutical’s Lonsurf) in the United States and Europe will increase the number of viable treatment options for these patients, and those who are RAS wild-type can also receive an EGFR inhibitor (such as cetuximab [Bristol-Myers Squibb/Eli Lilly/Merck KGaA’s Erbitux] and panitumumab [Amgen/Takeda Pharmaceutical’s Vectibix]) if they have not received one previously. However, given that the efficacy associated with these therapies is limited, significant opportunity remains for emerging therapies in development for this patient population.
