The non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment landscape in Japan looks very mature with multiple drugs approved for targeted therapy, immunotherapy and chemotherapy. In this well-established market, several companies are active on digital channels to support NSCLC patients, amongst which AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Roche are the leaders, observes GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData’s ‘Pharmaceutical Intelligence Center’, the market size of NSCLC in Japan is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.7% from US$2.08bn in 2021 to US$3.09bn in 2029.

Among the marketed therapies, the ones approved for targeted therapy and immunotherapy constitute the major part with a total of 25 drugs including products from Merck Sharp & Dohme, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Ono Pharmaceutical, Roche/Chugai Pharmaceutical, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Takeda, Nippon Boehringer lngelheim, Novartis, Nippon Kayaku and Merck Bio-Pharma.

Venkat Kartheek Vale, Pharma Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Japan’s stature in the NSCLC market is growing very well owing to the increased investments in R&D and advancing new therapies to market ahead of European countries. Furthermore, increased testing for cancer biomarkers and launch of premium-priced products are the main factors driving the growth. Considering this, the current and future players need to invest in digital strategy for their products to increase their share in this lucrative market.”

GlobalData’s ‘Digital Marketing Intelligence’ identified digital assets from AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Ono Pharmaceutical, Eli Lilly, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Nippon Boehringer lngelheim, Pfizer, and Roche/Chugai Pharmaceutical in Japan.\

An analysis of the traffic over the last 12 months revealed the highest traffic to the branded websites of Keytruda and Tecentriq that support multiple conditions, followed by Tagrisso’s branded website for NSCLC. Among the unbranded websites, Pfizer’s Ganclass.jp and AstraZeneca’s AZ-oncology.jp multi-indication sites received the maximum number of visits.

Mr Vale concludes: “NSCLC market is large and diverse in terms of treatment modalities and commercial opportunities and this disease is one of the best examples for successful implementation of personalized medicine. With many companies targeting a large number of patients in the first line setting and securing a first-to-market advantage, there is an intense competition from pipeline products. Hence, existing players need to learn from AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Roche and strengthen their digital presence to increase the awareness of their brands.”