Speaking in Sydney, Canada-based Altrinsic principal Andrew Waight, who specialises in healthcare stocks, said there is a great deal of excitement about immunotherapy.
“This is really harnessing your immune system to attack cancer,” said Mr Waight.
Chemotherapy involves harsh chemicals and only three in 10 people respond to the treatment, he said.
Immunotherapy, on the other hand, involves the sequencing of a particular type of cancer and the development of targeted drugs for it.
“An increased understanding of what’s driving the tumour growth allows us to aim a targeted medicine at a particular person. It’s personalised medicine,” he said.
From an investors’ point of view, the drugs that have been developed by companies like Swiss firm Roche are very attractive, said Mr Waight.
The efficacy of the drug goes from three in 10 (for chemotherapy) to eight in 10, he said – meaning there are fewer side effects and regulators approve the drug sooner.
“Zelboraf and Crizotinib were approved in five years as opposed to the chemotherapies of yesteryear – which took anywhere from 10-12 years,” said Mr Waight.
The new targeted cancer drugs are attractive for investors because they are very high-priced yet do not ‘cure’ the patient, he said.
“When you give them a target medicine it’s a better drug, and better targeted, but they still eventually relapse,” said Mr Waight.
“So you’ve got to go in and resequence the tumour and find out what the new driving sequence change is.
“Then, hopefully you have another drug to give them, which is why it’s good from an investment point of view,” he said.
He added that these new drugs are very lucrative for the companies that develop them.
“As soon as you can show efficacy in 80 per cent of people the price shoots up,” said Mr Waight.
The only problem on the horizon for investors is the possibility of future budget restraints in health care, he said.
