GlobalData : Key players in breast cancer space engage effectively with Japanese patients through unbranded digital strategies, says GlobalData

11 Nov 2020
Key players in breast cancer space engage effectively with Japanese patients through unbranded digital strategies, says GlobalData Posted in Pharma

In Japan, the breast cancer treatment landscape consists of various systemic therapies including chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy. Key players in this space provide competitive digital support through branded and unbranded channels. However, patient engagement through unbranded channels to create disease awareness has been more prominent, observes GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData's Epidemiology Database, the breast cancer market size in Japan, including HER2+, HER2-, HER2-/HR+ and TNBC tumor types, is estimated to grow from US$1.63bn in 2020 to US$2.06bn in 2025, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.9%.

The leading therapies available in the country include Roche / Chugai Pharmaceutical's Avastin (bevacizumab) - VEGF-A inhibitor, Herceptin (trastuzumab) - HER2 inhibitor, Perjeta (pertuzumab) - HER2 inhibitor, Tecentriq (atezolizumab) - PD-L1 inhibitor, Kadcyla (trastuzumab emtansine) - HER2 inhibitor, Pfizer's Ibrance (palbociclib) - CDK-4 inhibitor, and Novartis' Afinitor (everolimus) - mTOR inhibitor. Among the existing therapies, the recently approved drugs are Pfizer's Ibrance (September 2017) and Roche's Tecentriq (September 2019).

Venkat Kartheek Vale, Pharma Analyst at GlobalData, comments: 'Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide, accounting for 25.2% of all incident cases of female cancers. Since early diagnosis plays an important role in controlling the disease progression, key players are offering branded websites to explain treatment benefits and provide access to the drug while unbranded websites aim to create awareness of the disease and the disease management, thus encouraging patients to start treatment for their condition.'

GlobalData's 'Digital Marketing Intelligence' identified branded websites from Roche / Chugai Pharmaceutical's Pat.tecentriq.jp and Pat.chugai-pharm.jp**, Pfizer's Ibrance.jp, and Novartis' Afinitor.jp for breast cancer patients in Japan. The unbranded websites available for patients include Roche / Chugai Pharmaceutical's Ganwith.jp, Gan-genome.jp and Aya-life.jp, Pfizer's Ganclass.jp, Mbc-info.jp and Mychoiceprogram.jp, and Novartis' Nyuganrashinban.jp.

An analysis of the traffic over the 18 months (April 2019 - December 2019 vs. January 2020 - September 2020) revealed the highest traffic to Pfizer's unbranded website Ganclass.jp and Roche / Chugai Pharmaceutical's Pat.chugai-pharm.jp, with visits supported by a large number of organic keywords to both the websites.

Mr Vale concludes: 'Breast cancer market is driven by increasing incidence of the disease and innovation in treatment. Since the leading therapies such as Avastin and Herceptin are facing biosimilar competition and the overall market size is expected to decrease in terms of value, key players are focusing on promoting innovative therapies. Furthermore, the portfolio of unbranded websites developed by Roche / Chugai Pharmaceutical and Pfizer also supports the fact that patient engagement through their unbranded websites will help expand the patient base thus helping in growing their product sales.'

**Pat.chugai-pharm.jp supports Avastin, Kadcyla and Herceptin