Report projects breast cancer drug sales to exceed $1 billion

WALTHAM, Mass. An investigational drug for treating breast cancer will garner sales of more than $1 billion in many developed countries by the end of the decade, according to a new report by market research firm Decision Resources.

According to the report, titled "Breast Cancer," BSI-201 will have $1.7 billion in sales by 2018 in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Japan. The report said the drug was expected to take “significant” market share from Avastin (bevacizumab), made by Roche, Genentech — now a part of Roche — and Chugai after its launch in 2012, in the United States and Europe, and its 2014 launch in Japan. The drug belongs to a nascent class known as PARP inhibitors, which also includes AstraZeneca’s olaparib and Pfizer’s AG-014699.

“Interviewed thought leaders are very optimistic about the PARP inhibitors and, in particular, about BSI-201’s potential in the triple negative breast cancer setting,” Decision Resources analyst Niamh Murphy said in a statement.