Oncology: The Disease, the Dynamics and the Difficulties of Global Marketing Research
The World Health Organisation estimates that the incidence of cancer could increase by 50% to 15 million cases by the year 2020. To put that into context, that is nearly the entire population of the Netherlands. Each and every one of us will likely be impacted by cancer in some way during our lifetime. Whether we experience the disease personally or know someone who has, cancer is a disease that we are all vaguely familiar with. Cancer was first discovered over 3,000 years ago and yet in some ways, it is as much a mystery today as it was then. While we have learned more about the causes and effective treatments, those who work in the oncology market are constantly faced with the challenges of this everchanging disease.
Cancer is complex as it is one term that encompasses many different diseases. There is no one cause for cancer, nor is there a single treatment protocol. The biology of cancer is also very complex, leading to an abundance of treatment approaches. Incidence and prevalence rates differ globally and treatment of the disease is managed by numerous physician specialties. In addition to these challenges, the ever changing nature of the disease and treatment approaches makes it challenging for marketers to remain current. In the last several years alone, we have seen the introduction of at least 10 new agents. We have also begun to understand the impact of biomarkers and have watched as physicians have changed their already complex and variable treatment approaches for diseases like NSCLC to an approach including maintenance therapy (although this term in itself is not consistently understood). Oncology market researchers and marketers are faced with these challenges every day. This paper provides an introduction to this complex market and highlights some of the distinct challenges to help marketing professionals avoid pitfalls when marketing or conducting marketing research for oncology products globally.
