William Coyle: WHO’s recent global report on cancer underscores the disease’s fascinating and frightening dynamic

William Coyle, Region Managing Principal- East Asia at ZS Associates, shared a post on LinkedIn:

“World Health Organization’s recent global report on cancer underscores the disease’s fascinating and frightening dynamic: Even as biopharma delivers breakthrough after breakthrough, the less salubrious aspects of modern life (poor diet, obesity, pollution, etc.) coupled with growing, aging populations will cause total cancer incidence to march steadily upward.

But even more distressing than the projected rise in cancer cases (77% by 2050) is the disparity in outcomes between high- and low-income countries. Women in poor countries are less than half as likely as those in wealthy ones to develop breast cancer—but nearly twice as likely to die from it.

I really like this interview in STAT with Aparna Parikh, director of Massachusetts General Hospital’s cancer care center, talking about programs to improve screening, early detection and—often overlooked—care navigation for cancer patients. Especially interesting: a program to fund clinical trials to see if certain immunotherapies may be effective at just a tenth of their normal dosages.

While biopharma may not jump for joy at the idea of selling 90% less drug in some cases, if these trials are successful, it could create a win-win by unlocking millions of new patients and improving outcomes for cancer patients in under-resourced countries.”

Source: William Coyle/LinkedIn