Report Summary

The global oncology ecosystem continues to discover, develop, and deliver important novel treatments that are intended to bring improved outcomes for an increasing number of patients. While this is a strong testament to the ingenuity and innovative power of the stakeholders involved, at the same time global oncology is facing complex challenges reflected in the trends highlighted in this report.

The research of the IQVIA Institute profiles the current state of research and development in oncology, including key mechanisms, targets and cancer types being investigated as well as pointing to some novel areas which are only just emerging. We also look at metrics of clinical development productivity and the progress being made to improve representativeness of race and ethnicity in clinical trial populations.

As more novel cancer medicines are launched, patient access and use of those drugs vary widely around the world. Trends in the use of novel mechanisms in specific cancer types are reported here and intended to provide an evidence base that encourages stakeholder discussion.

Finally, the costs associated with treating more patients for longer and with more advanced therapies is bringing stress to healthcare budgets, even as the broader adoption of biosimilars provides some relief. How these spending dynamics will play out over the next five years globally is also examined in this report.