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We are dedicated to transforming cancer care through innovative treatment approaches, striving to enhance the quality of life for patients and their loved ones facing the challenge of cancer.
Cancer is one of the world’s biggest healthcare challenges.1 Almost everyone has a close experience of cancer in their lifetime, whether as a patient, relative or caregiver.
Cancer is complex and persistent. It can evade the immune system or hide from it, disabling the body’s immune response.2 This is why we don’t rely on a single scientific platform or treatment modality and aim to increase the number, efficacy and safety of treatment options available to physicians.
Patients are central to everything we do. Our goal is to apply unique patient perspectives to every phase of medicine development – from early research to development and ultimately, delivery. Our commitment spans across the patient journey from early diagnosis to education and support programs and onto access, meeting the diverse needs of the patients we serve.
Today, Astellas' portfolio includes therapies for prostate, bladder and stomach/GEJ cancer and acute myeloid leukemia.
When prostate cancer spreads beyond the prostate to other parts of the body, or returns after treatment, it is known as advanced prostate cancer.3 While advanced prostate cancer is not usually curable, treatments can help manage the disease, ease symptoms, and improve quality of life.4
Prostate cancer often grows slowly. In many cases, it can take years to grow large enough to be detected, and even longer to spread outside the prostate.5
In the United States, about 97% of people diagnosed with prostate cancer live at least five years. When the cancer is found early—while it is still local or regional—the five-year survival rate is nearly 100%. However, if it has already spread to distant parts of the body, the five-year survival rate drops to approximately 32%.7
These figures reflect outcomes in the U.S., where early detection and treatment are widely available. Survival rates may vary in other countries depending on access to healthcare, awareness, and resources. For example, European data from the EUROCARE-5 study shows a 5-year survival rate ranging from 76% to 88%, depending on the region.8
Urothelial carcinoma (UC) is the most common type of bladder cancer, accounting for approximately 90% of all cases.9,10 It begins in the urothelial cells that line the inside of the bladder and other parts of the urinary tract.10
Bladder cancer is the 7th most prevalent cancer worldwide and ranks among the top 10 cancers by incidence in many countries, particularly affecting men.11,12 Globally, the 5-year prevalence estimates that over 1,700,000 men and women are living with bladder cancer within five years of a past diagnosis.13 The 5-year age-standardized survival rate for bladder cancer survival is 69% for men and 66% for women.14
Gastric cancer is the fifth most common cancer globally, with nearly 970,000 cases diagnosed in 2022.15 Oftentimes, stomach cancers are adenocarcinomas, meaning the cancer develops from the gland cells in the innermost lining of the stomach. Other types of cancers that start in the stomach include gastrointestinal stromal tumors, neuroendocrine tumors, lymphoma of the stomach, and types of squamous cell carcinoma in the stomach.16 Advanced or metastatic gastric cancer means it has spread from the tumor’s origin to other body tissues or organs.17
Globally, gastric cancer ranks fifth among the combined population for incidence and are twofold higher in men than women worldwide.18 Gastric cancer ranks fifth for mortality globally, with an estimated 659,805 deaths in 2022.14 Globally, overall five-year relative survival rate for people diagnosed with gastric cancer at any stage is 20%.17
Gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) tumors start at the area where the esophagus joins the stomach and tend to behave like cancers in the esophagus and are treated like them.19 Sometimes, people diagnosed with GEJ cancer are diagnosed once the cancer has already advanced and metastasized.
Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) is a type of cancer that starts in the bone marrow but often quickly moves into the blood. It can sometimes spread to other parts of the body, as well.20 Most often, AML develops from cells that would turn into white blood cells, but sometimes it develops in other types of blood-forming cells.20 AML is deemed “acute,” meaning that this type of leukaemia can progress quickly and, if not treated, would probably be fatal within a few months.21
AML is one of the most common types of leukaemia in adults, but it’s still rare.22 The global incidence of AML increased from 79,372 in 1990 to 144,645 in 2021. However, the age standardized incidence rate (ASIR) decreased from 1.77 per 100,000 persons in 1990 to 1.73 per 100,000 population in 2021. The 5-year relative survival rate for adults with AML is only 32.9% in the United States.24,25 AML is most common in people aged 65 years and older, however, overall cure rates are significantly lower for patients over the age of 60 (5-15%) versus patients under 60 (35-40%).26 Patients with AML whose disease is refractory to or relapses after induction chemotherapy have a dismal prognosis with standard chemotherapy.27
1Ferlay J, Ervik M, Lam F, Laversanne M, Colombet M, Mery L, Piñeros M, Znaor A, Soerjomataram I, Bray F (2024). Global Cancer Observatory: Cancer Today. Lyon, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer. Available from: https://gco.iarc.who.int/today. Last accessed: February 2025.
2Kim S, Cho S. The Evasion Mechanisms of Cancer Immunity and Drug Intervention in the Tumor Microenvironment. Front Pharmacol 2022;13:868695.
3Urology Care Foundation. Prostate Cancer – Advanced: Symptoms, Diagnosis & Treatment. https://www.urologyhealth.org/urology-a-z/a_/advanced-prostate-cancer Last accessed 26 March 2025
4Mayo Clinic. Metastatic Prostate Cancer – Diagnosis and Treatment. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/metastatic-prostate-cancer/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20377972 Last accessed 26 March 2025
5Harvard Health Publishing. Prostate Cancer Lives as it is Born: Slow-Growing and Benign or Fast-Growing and Dangerous?. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/prostate-cancer-lives-as-it-is-born-slow-growing-and-benign-or-fast-growing-and-dangerous-201308146604 Last accessed 26 March 2025
6American Cancer Society. What Are the Survival Rates for Prostate Cancer?. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/prostate-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/survival-rates.html Last accessed 26 March 2025
7National Cancer Institute. Cancer Stat Facts: Prostate Cancer. https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/prost.html Last accessed 26 March 2025
8De Angelis, R., et al. Cancer Survival in Europe 1999–2007 by Country and Age: Results of EUROCARE–5—a Population-Based Study. The Lancet Oncology, 2014. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24314615/ Last accessed 26 March 2025
9Wong MC, Fung FD, Leung C, et al. Scientific Reports. 2018;8(1):1129.
10American Cancer Society. What is Bladder Cancer? Available at: https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/bladder-cancer/about/what-is-bladder-cancer.html#. Last accessed January 2024.
11GLOBOCAN IARC 2020: Worldwide 5-year Cancer Prevalence. Available at: https://gco.iarc.fr/today/online-analysis-table?v=2020&mode=cancer&mode_population=continents&population=900&populations=900&key=asr&sex=0&cancer=39&type=2&statistic=5&prevalence=1&population_ group=0&ages_group%5B%5D=0&ages_group%5B%5D=17&group_cancer=1&include_nmsc=1&include_nmsc_other=1#collapse-group-0-4. Last accessed January 2024.
12WBCPC. 2020. Bladder Cancer Facts. Available at: https://worldbladdercancer.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Bladder-Cancer-WBCPC-Infographic.pdf. Last accessed January 2024.
13World Bladder Cancer Patient Coalition. GLOBOCAN 2020: Bladder cancer 10th most commonly diagnosed worldwide. Available at: https://worldbladdercancer.org/news_events/globocan-2020-bladder-cancer-10th-most-commonly-diagnosedworldwide/. Last accessed: January 2024
14EU Science Hub. Epidemiology of bladder cancer in Europe. Available at: https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC101380. Last accessed January 2024.
15Ferlay J, Ervik M, Lam F, Laversanne M, Colombet M, Mery L, Piñeros M, Znaor A, Soerjomataram I, Bray F (2024). Global Cancer Observatory: Cancer Today. Lyon, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer. Available at https://gco.iarc.fr/today. Accessed 02-06-2024.
16American Cancer Society. What is stomach cancer? (01-22-2021). https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/stomach-cancer/about/what-isstomach-cancer.html. Accessed 01-03-2024.
17National Cancer Institute. Gastric cancer treatment (PDQ®): patient version (09-23-2022). https://www.cancer.gov/types/stomach/patient/stomach-treatment-pdq. Accessed 01-03-2024
18Sung H, Ferlay J, Siegel RL, et al. Global cancer statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J Clin 2021;71(3):209-49.
19American Cancer Society. What is cancer of the esophagus? (03-20-2020). https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/esophaguscancer/about/what-is-cancer-of-the-esophagus.html. Accessed 01-03-2024.
20American Cancer Society. What Is Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)? Available at: https://www.cancer.org/ cancer/types/acute-myeloid-leukemia/about/what-is-aml.html. Last accessed July 2023.
21American Cancer Society. Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. Available at: https://www.cancer.org/cancer/ types/acute-lymphocytic-leukemia/about/what-is-all.html. Last accessed July 2023.
22American Cancer Society. Key Statistics for Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Available at: https://www.cancer. org/cancer/types/acute-myeloid-leukemia/about/key-statistics.html. Last accessed July 2023.
23Zhou et al. Biomarker Research (2024) 12:101
24Visser O, et al. Incidence, survival and prevalence of myeloid malignancies in Europe. Eur J Cancer. 2012;48: 3257-3266.
25National Cancer Institute. Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program. Cancer stat facts: acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Available at: https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/amyl.html. Last accessed June 2025.
26Griffin J, et al. Treatment Patterns and Healthcare Resource Utilization in Patients with FLT3-Mutated and Wild Type Acute Myeloid Leukemia: A Medical Chart Study. Eur J Haematol. 2018. Accepted Author Manuscript. doi:10.1111/ejh.13205
27Megías-Vericat JE, Martínez-Cuadrón D, Sanz MA, Montesinos P. Salvage regimens using conventional chemotherapy agents for relapsed/refractory adult AML patients: a systematic literature review. Ann Hematol 2018;97:1115-53
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