About 4.8 billion people, or 60% of the world's population, live in Asia, yet the region accounts for half of global cancer cases and about 60% of cancer deaths, creating a heavy cancer burden. AstraZeneca plans to launch 20 new drugs by 2030 under the goal of "changing the lives of millions," and more than half of them are expected to be cancer treatments.
Sylvia Varela, AstraZeneca's executive vice president for Asia, said at a media briefing for ESMO Asia 2025 in Singapore on the 6th (local time) that the company will push to expand early diagnosis and personalized treatment strategies in earnest to narrow the treatment gap for cancer patients in Asia.
Varela said the most common cancers in Asia are lung cancer and gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, and among women, breast cancer incidence is also high. Incidence and mortality have steadily increased in recent decades, and due to population growth and aging, industrialization, exposure to environmental and occupational carcinogens, and lifestyle changes, the cancer burden will grow even heavier over the next 10 years.
AstraZeneca is introducing, with governments, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based chest X-ray analysis solution that is more accessible than low-dose CT for lung cancer. Thailand, led by the government, plans to expand it to about 900 hospitals by 2027 and has invested $13 million for that purpose. Malaysia has begun a pilot program at 127 hospitals first, aiming for full rollout next year, while in the Philippines it is operating at 11 hospitals, and low-dose CT screening will be added to the national health insurance package.
Varela said, In Vietnam, projections suggest more than 3,000 additional early lung cancer patients will be identified over the next five years and about 5,000 premature deaths can be prevented, adding, By year five, cost savings from early treatment will effectively eliminate the expense burden.
Mark Sims, executive vice president overseeing global EGFR-mutated lung cancer, said, Lung cancer must be approached from multiple angles, and early intervention increases the chance of a cure. He then noted that recent clinical studies showed some patients were cured through early intervention.
Among lung cancers, EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer appears in 30%–40% of Asian patients and has higher incidence among younger patients, non-smokers, and women. That is why AstraZeneca is focusing on this cancer. Sims said, Of the 14 lung cancer abstracts being presented at this congress, a substantial number involve this patient group, adding, Research and treatment strategies tailored to the characteristics of Asian patients will be a central focus.
Within this strategy, "osimertinib (brand name Tagrisso)" is expected to become even more important. Sims said, AstraZeneca aims to establish osimertinib as the backbone of treatment at all stages, regardless of stage. Osimertinib is currently used as maintenance therapy for unresectable stage 3 non-small cell lung cancer and as first-line therapy for metastatic (stage 4) lung cancer.