Theranostics key in driving drug development

Theranostics is the term given to a diagnostic test that can increase the clinical use of a given therapeutic drug while reducing the risks and costs associated with developing and marketing. This concept of combining a therapeutic entity with a corresponding diagnostic test is becoming increasingly popular with drug makers.

The prediction, which was made in a new industry report from FIND/SVP, discusses how the result of these efforts are tests that reveal how well patients respond to particular therapies.

Theranostics is widely considered the key to improving the efficiency of drug treatment by helping doctors identify patients who are the best candidates for the treatment in question. In addition, the adoption of theranostics could very well eliminate the unnecessary treatment of patients for whom therapy is not appropriate, resulting in significant drug cost savings for these patients.

"The theranostic sector remains largely untapped, but as the movement towards personalized medicine progresses, the benefactors will be patients, payors and companies with applicable molecular diagnostic technologies,"​ said Dana Benini, a consultant at FIND/SVP and author of the report, "Anticipating Illness."

The pharmaceutical community has received theranostics warmly as it offers the prospect of improving the efficiency of research and development by speeding up the development cycle times and lower product attrition.

Pharmaceutical companies, with access to large numbers of patients who have undergone therapy with proprietary medicines, represent a valuable resource, which combined with a suitable medical diagnostics company, creates a powerful force in the development and validation of biomarkers into medical diagnostic tests.

The report mentions barriers that remain before theranostics can be applied to medical treatment. Patient privacy concerns and the threat of discrimination by insurers are issues that need to be addressed. The associated costs for maintaining all of the information from personalised medicine will also require a significant investment. Despite these barriers, there are companies developing diagnostic tests to predict susceptibility to certain conditions.

Spending on research into new drugs in the US and Europe reached $50 billion in 2001, an increase of 240 per cent in ten years. This rate of growth is expected to continue in the impending years. On average, a new drug requires 12 years research at a cost in excess of $900 million before it comes to market. However, about 70 per cent of new medicines fail to recoup the costs of their research and development.