New Delhi, January 3 (IANS). A recent report said that immuno-oncology (IO) drugs, i.e. immune therapy of cancer, could become the biggest innovation in the medical field in the next five years.
The report has been released by GlobalData, which is based on a survey of 128 pharma industry professionals. According to reports, advancements in the field of immunotherapy are going to completely change the way cancer is treated. New technologies like checkpoint inhibitors, CAR-T cell therapy and cancer vaccines will play an important role in this.
Urte Jacquimaviciute, senior director of GlobalData’s healthcare division, said the treatments would be “more effective and personalised”. He believes that there is a need for more effective drugs in cancer treatment and immuno-oncology will help in this. According to Jacquimaviciute, this field will continue to advance because many types of cancer still lack effective treatments.
Apart from this, anti-obesity drugs have also been considered a major innovation area. The survey revealed that anti-obesity drugs, such as GLP-1 receptor agonists, are becoming an important opportunity for the pharma industry. These medicines are emerging as a solution to the global health crisis and their market is growing.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 20 million new cancer cases were reported worldwide in 2022. About 97 lakh people died in this. The survey also showed that lung, breast and colorectal cancer had the highest number of cases and were the cause of most deaths. The figures are based on data covering 85 countries and 36 cancers.
The report also said that 1 in every 5 people gets cancer at some point in their life and 1 in 9 men and 1 in 12 women die from this disease.
–IANS
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