London, England-- (SBWIRE) -- 11/16/2010 -- Pancreatic cancer is typically very aggressive in nature, responds rather inadequately to treatment, and is generally diagnosed when it has already reached the locally advanced or metastatic stage. The rates of mortality tend to be high, and there exists no therapy that is shown to significantly improve survival. Only a few systemic treatments are available, and just about 20% of the patients diagnosed with a resectable disease are eligible to receive the systemic therapy.

Eli Lilly's Gemzar (Gemcitabine) is the current gold standard of care for locally advanced and metastatic disease, with a dominance that is undisputed despite a median survival of less than 6 months and rate of one-year survival of around 18%, as stated by the new market research report on Pancreatic cancer drugs. Though the odds of survival are somewhat better in other forms of cancer, the rate of five-year survival for the most common form of pancreatic cancer, Adenocarcinoma of the pancreas is less than 5%, with majority of patients surviving just a few months.

A macro level perspective of the drug development projects would highlight that most clinical trials have studied combinations with Gemcitabine as a mainstay drug and none till date have been able to provide significantly superior outcomes than Gemcitabine alone. Even the combinations of biological agents and gemcitabine have not been successful. There is a kind of gemcitabine fixation, with researchers unable to think beyond the gemcitabine box, even as the disease continues to claim several thousands of lives every year.

Competition in the global pancreatic cancer drugs market is virtually non-existent where Eli Lilly's Gemzar (Gemcitabine) and Genentech/ OSI Pharmaceuticals/ Roche's Tarceva (Erlotinib) are the only therapies indicated for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Of the two, Gemzar is the most widely prescribed therapeutic.

The report titled "Pancreatic Cancer Drugs: A Global Market Report provides a comprehensive review of the market, competitive scenario, pipeline drugs, research & development, regulatory submissions/approvals, and recent industry activity.

View Full Report Details: http://www.companiesandmarkets.com/r.ashx?id=06T1RTBG6289240&prk=c34cdcdbcee15ae68d55d5fb6c49c818