424회 Protein Kinases & Oncology, Perfect Together!

424회 (2009. 4. 9.)

연사:  배 진 건, 중외제약

제목:  Protein Kinases & Oncology, Perfect Together!

Abstract 

There can be no doubt that oncology drug development is entering a critical phase. This phase is driven by the ever expanding knowledge of genomics and proteomics, breakthrough advances in drug discovery/drug design, and new in vitro and in vivo testing methodologies that allow drugs faster entry into clinical trials. The industry is on the brink of introducing a range of targeted therapeutics that promise to revolutionise cancer treatment. However, developing Oncology products is full of major challenges that need to be met head on in order to bring safe and effective treatments to market. Kinases are perhaps the most druggable class of targets, and yet researchers have only begun to scratch the surface. The ubiquity of kinases as potential targets means that eventually they will be exploited for virtually every human disease, particularly diabetes, inflammatory disorders, and especially cancer. The success of Novartis' Gleevec, Roche's Herceptin, AsraZeneca’s Iressa and OSI’s Tarceva has demonstrated that kinase inhibitors for cancer that are effective and well-tolerated. However, these successful drugs are just the top of an emerging line of therapy. Nonetheless, challenges remain, including: ensuring target relevance and specificity, overcoming resistance. There are today more than 245 protein kinase inhibitors for the treatment of cancer, from early preclinical to marketed drugs. Developmental stage contains more than 245 PKI drugs in development or more than 450 clinical projects for cancer:  

> 25 projects in Phase III  

> 160 projects in Phase II  

> 110 projects in Phase I  

> 180 projects in Preclinical

The Oncology market is currently valued at $34 billion/year and is set to top $55 billion in 2009. It is no surprise that big pharma is investing up to 20% of its annual R&D budget on the development of cancer treatment. Given the fact that they all target kinases and that kinase mutations can cause patients to become resistant to these drugs, there is plenty of room for more competition. Since virtually all the big pharmas have kinase R&D programs ongoing, we need to stay on top of the R&D and commercial developments in the area of kinase therapeutics.