Market Overview

Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide with 8.2 million cancer related deaths in 2012 estimated by World Health Organization (WHO). Anthracycline especially doxorubicin has been the mainstay of cancer treatment since many years. Doxorubicin also known as doxorubicin hydrochloride is an antibiotic belonging to class of medication known as anthracycline antibiotics, and is the first liposomal encapsulated anticancer drug to receive clinical approval and is used in the treatment of several types of carcinomas.

Doxorubicin is produced by the soil fungus belonging to genus Streptomyces. The drug is used in combination with other drugs to treat cancers such as, breast, lung, bladder, stomach, ovarian, neuroblastoma, Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphomas, and certain types of leukemia’s. It is less commonly used in treatment of squamous cell carcinomas of head and neck, cervix and vagina, carcinomas of testes and prostate.

The drug kills the cancerous cells in several ways including intercalation between DNA pairs thereby preventing replication of cancer cells, DNA strand breakage and inhibition with enzyme topoisomerase II. Doxorubicin is marketed either in the powdered or in solution form and is administered intravenously every 21 to 28 days

However, the treatment depends upon the type of cancer being treated, the types of other drugs that are taken during the treatment and how well the body response to the medicine. The drug is sometimes given as a continuous infusion wherein the drug is infused slowly into the patient’s body.

Global doxorubicin market is expected to witness upsurge in its revenue over the forecast period attributed to growing prevalence of cancer worldwide. WHO estimates that cancer prevalence is expected to increase at an estimated rate of 50% by 2050. Furthermore, increasing use of drug in the treatment of ovary cancer is further expected to increase the sales of the doxorubicin over the forecast period.

The drug is also known to have high treatment efficacy in patients with AIDS-related Kaposi’s sarcoma after failure of prior systemic chemotherapy. However, conventional doxorubicin treatment imposes several side effects such as nausea and vomiting that may last 24–48 hours after treatment, hair loss, myelosuppression, loss of appetite, diarrhea, localized swelling etc.

Therefore, the need for development of doxorubicin with liposomal formulation arose improving therapeutic index of conventional doxorubicin. This strategy resulted in preferential accumulation of doxorubicin within the cancerous cell in order to maximize the drug efficacy and minimize toxicity, thus fueling the doxorubicin market growth in the near future.

One of the most common and prevailing side effect of doxorubicin is cardiomyopathy with an estimated incidence of 4% at a dose of 500–550 mg/m², subsequently leading to congestive heart failure. The rate of cardiomyopathy reaches to 36% when the dose exceeds 600 mg/m². This may lead to introduction of drugs with lesser side effects replacing the doxorubicin in the future. However, ongoing shortages of the drug has also affected the revenues of the doxorubicin market contently.

The global market for Doxorubicin is segmented on basis of formulation, cancer type, distribution channel and geography:

by Formulation	Lyophilized Doxorubicin Powder Doxorubicin Solution
by Cancer Type	Breast Cancer Prostate Cancer Ovary Cancer Lung Cancer Bladder Cancer Stomach Cancer Leukemia Others
by Distribution Channel	Hospitals Pharmacies Retail Pharmacies E-Commerce

Increasing prevalence of several cancer types have resulted in increasing usage of doxorubicin in clinical practice thus driving the revenues for the same. By formulation, the global market for doxorubicin has been classified into, lyophilized doxorubicin powder and doxorubicin solution

By cancer type, the global doxorubicin market is segmented into, breast cancer, prostate cancer, ovary cancer, lung cancer, bladder cancer, stomach cancer, leukemia and others. Breast cancer and prostate cancer segments are expected to account for maximum revenue share in global doxorubicin market over the forecasted period.

On the basis of distribution channel, the global doxorubicin market is segmented into, hospital pharmacies, retail pharmacies and e-commerce.

On the basis of regional presence, global doxorubicin market is segmented into five key regions viz. North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. North America will continue to dominate the global doxorubicin market attributed to growing number of cancer epidemiology in the region.

Furthermore, doxorubicin shortages in the past few years due to manufacturing issues have resulted in entry of increasing number of players in the market. This has substantially improved the revenue of global doxorubicin market in the near future. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing region in global doxorubicin market attributed to increasing prevalence of breast and lung cancer.

Some of the major players operating in global doxorubicin market are Pfizer Inc., Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc., Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Meiji Seika Pharma Co., Ltd., Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., MicroBiopharm Japan Co., Ltd., and Synbias Pharma. Companies are involved in collaboration agreements for R&D in order to exploit maximum potential.