GSK bought cancer drugmaker Nuvalent for $10.6 billion, a sign of the growing importance of cancer in the pharma market.
Cancer is becoming both more prevalent and more treatable: It is a disease of aging, and as fewer people die of other things, they live long enough to get cancer. There are also signs that it is becoming more common in younger ages, notably colorectal cancer, although the reasons are disputed.
At the same time, survival rates have increased thanks to better detection and the rise of immunotherapies, tumor-specific treatments, and improved surgical techniques. GSK hopes Nuvalent’s antibody therapies could target several cancer types and help it compete with other cancer drugmakers such as Merck.
