This Market Spotlight report covers the Mesothelioma market, comprising key marketed and pipeline drugs, clinical trials, key upcoming and regulatory events, probability of success, a 10-year disease incidence forecast, and licensing and asset acquisition deals, as well as presenting drug-specific revenue forecasts.

Key Takeaways

• Datamonitor Healthcare estimates that in 2021, there were 30,600 incident cases of mesothelioma in adults aged 40 years and older worldwide, and forecasts that number to increase to 34,600 incident cases by 2030.
• Oceania is estimated to have the highest disease incidence rate (9.50 per 100,000 males, and 2.30 per 100,000 females), while Africa has the lowest incidence rate (0.56 per 100,000 males, and 0.25 per 100,000 females).
• The approved drugs in the mesothelioma space target thymidylate synthase, the immune system, programmed death-1 receptor/programmed death ligands (PD-L1 and PD-L2), dihydrofolate reductase, and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4. All of the approved drugs are administered via the intravenous route.
• The majority of industry-sponsored drugs in active clinical development for mesothelioma are in Phase II. Therapies in the mesothelioma space focus on a wide variety of targets. The greatest proportion of drugs in development for mesothelioma are administered via the intravenous route, with the remainder being intramuscular, oral, intratumoral, percutaneous catheter/injection, and subcutaneous formulations.
• The only high-impact upcoming event for drugs in the mesothelioma space is topline Phase II/III trial results for MesoPher. The overall likelihood of approval of a Phase I mesothelioma asset is 9%, and the average probability a drug advances from Phase III is 50%. Drugs, on average, take 10.7 years from Phase I to approval, compared to 9.9 years in the overall oncology space.
• The distribution of clinical trials across Phase I–IV indicates that the vast majority of trials for mesothelioma have been in the early and mid-phases of development, with 95.5% of trials in Phase I–II, and only 4.5% in Phase III–IV.
• The US has a substantial lead in the number of mesothelioma clinical trials globally. The UK leads the major European markets, while Japan has the top spot in Asia.
• Clinical trial activity in the mesothelioma space is dominated by completed trials. Eli Lilly has the highest number of completed clinical trials for mesothelioma, with 34 trials.
• Merck & Co leads industry sponsors with the highest overall number of clinical trials for mesothelioma, closely followed by Eli Lilly.