Market Overview

According to study results from Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation, in 2012, over 280,000 patients were living with bone metastasis in the U.S. with breast and prostate cancers being the most common primary tumor types. Metastasis is the unique hallmark of cancer cells which differentiates them from the benign tumors, which refers to the spread of cancer from its primary site to other body parts.

Bone is the third most common site for the spread of cancer and invasion of such cancerous cells to bone gives rise to the deadly condition of bone metastasis. Bone metastasis is the third most common condition in metastatic cancers and occurs in 60-65% of patients with metastatic cancers.

The spine is the most common site of bone metastasis. Other common sites include ribs, skull, pelvis (hip bone), femur (leg bone) and humerus (arm bone). Bone metastatic cancers are rarely able to be cured, and treatment of bone metastasis involves medications to shrink, stop or slow down the growth of the tumor.

Treatment options available for bone metastasis are symptomatic treatments which are meant for pain control, treatment, and prevention of fractures, improvement in functional disability, etc. Randomized trials on metastatic patients by UBM Medica, LLC showed that 45-75% patients develop functional disability every 3-4 months, 10-15% patients develop hypercalcemia and 10-20% patients develop long bone fractures.

Treatment of bone metastasis is the interdisciplinary field involving pain management, orthopedics, and other medical specialties. Primary factors driving the growth of bone metastasis therapeutics market are the global increase in cancer prevalence and delayed diagnosis of cancer in low-income countries.

According to University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas, over 600,000 of bone metastasis are diagnosed in the U.S. every year. Rapid innovation in the field of personalized medicine and identification of new therapeutic targets for bone metastasis presents a huge opportunity to manufacturers of targeted therapy agents.

A large number of treatment methods are still under investigation. However, heterogeneous nature of cancer and high development cost of neoplastic agents are the factors limiting the growth of global bone metastasis therapeutics market.

The global market for bone metastasis therapeutics has been segmented on basis of treatment type, end user, and geography:

Based on treatment type	Drug Treatment Pain Relievers NSAIDs Opioids Bone Building medications Corticosteroids Bisphosphonates Teriparatide Pamidronate Medronate Targeted Therapy Agents Tumor Ablation Therapy Radiofrequency ablation Cryoablation Surgery Osteoplasty Orthopedic Fixation
Based on end user	Hospitals Cancer Rehabilitation Centers Specialty Clinics Ambulatory Surgical Centers

Increasing investment by multinational companies in cancer research is expected to drive the growth of global bone metastasis therapeutics market during the forecast period. Based on treatment type, the global market for bone metastasis therapeutics has been classified as drug treatment, Tumor ablation therapy, and surgery.

Drug treatment segment is foreseen to lead the market owing to easy availability of drugs and better reimbursement policies. Targeted therapeutic agents sub-segment of drug treatment segment is expected grow rapidly due to increasing acceptance of biological therapy owing to lesser side effects.

By end user, the global bone metastasis therapeutics market has been segmented into hospitals, Clinics, cancer rehabilitation center and ambulatory surgical centers. Hospital end user segment is anticipated to contribute the maximum share among end users owing to the requirement of advanced healthcare infrastructure for management of bone metastasis symptoms.

According to a study conducted by Amgen Inc., average hospitalization stay of cancer bone metastasis patients is 5.9 to 11.6 days, and almost 59% of the inpatient cost is attributed to skeletal-related events (SREs) such as radiation to the bone, spinal cord compression, pathologic fracture, etc.

By regional presence, bone metastasis therapeutics market is segmented into five key regions viz. North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa. North America will continue to dominate the global bone metastasis therapeutics market for due to high prevalence of malignant neoplasm. Europe is expected to hold second largest market share in global bone metastasis therapeutics market.

Some of the major players in global bone metastasis therapeutics market include F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Bayer AG, Merck & Co., Pfizer Inc. Novartis AG, Amgen Inc., Pharmalucence, Inc., Fresenius Kabi AG, Omega Laboratories Ltd., Eli Lilly and Company, and others. The majority of the key players are involved in development of new methods for treatment of cancer bone metastasis in collaboration with cancer research institutes such as M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, etc.