The use of combination therapies in the treatment of cancer patients is set to increase in the future, according to a new report.

Analysis found that oncological treatments are evolving to include biologic medication, which, in combination with cytotoxic drugs, is rapidly becoming the top pharmaceutical therapy.

GBI Research’s report found the effective capabilities of biologics in controlling and treating complications has led to their widespread use and popularity amongst patients and prescribers.

The cytotoxic therapies markets has eight major indications and brands include Taxotere (docetaxel), Alimta (pemetrexed) and Xeloda (capecitabine) – all of which have exceeded sales of $1 billion.

However, these drugs are set to be exposed to generic competition in coming years which will reduce the cost of combinational treatments.

The popularity of such treatments is also expected to convince pharmaceutical companies to apply for label extensions on their existing biologics portfolio for multiple oncology complications.

This, the report said, will support the continued development of cytotoxic drugs in the future, despite significant safety hurdles that have previously led to weak pipelines.

The cytotoxic therapies market accounted for $6.5 billion in revenue ten years ago. It grew at an annual rate of 5.8% to reach $10.1 billion in 2010. The report now expects generic competition to reduce revenues in the market by 2017 to $7.6 billion – despite predicted uptake.

A vibrating gel injected into the vocal tissues of the throat could restore vocal capacity to people whose voices have been damaged by surgery.

The new gel (pictured), developed by Harvard Medical School surgeon Steven Zeitels in partnership with MIT bioscientist Bob Langer, can vibrate up to 200 times per second, mimicking the action of human vocal cords.

Their research has been partly funded by singers Roger Daltrey (of The Who) and Steven Tyler (of Aerosmith), both of whom have suffered loss of singling ability following surgery, thought its main funding source is the Institute of Laryngology and Voice Restoration.

It has recently been reported that Dr Zeitels is helping to treat singer Adele, who has had to cancel her 2011 tour to undergo surgery to alleviate issues with her throat.

Injected directly into the vocal cords, the gel responds to breath and muscle tension by vibrating.

Zeitels is a professor of laryngeal surgery whose patients include singer Julie Andrews as well as Daltrey and Tyler. He was directed to Langer by a number of scientific experts.

Langer is famous for his work on anti-cancer drugs that starve tumours of their blood supply, including Roche’s Avastin, and on time-release drug delivery technologies for chemotherapy.

Creating artificial vocal cords requires a durable material that can bond with the existing tissue and respond correctly to muscle contractions and air movement. Langer has developed a polyethylene glycol gel tailored at the molecular level.

“With synthetic materials, the beauty is you can tailor them and build in the degradation rate or mechanical strength you need because you’re making them from scratch,” Langer commented.

Zeitels and Langer plan to test the gel in a cancer patient for the first time in 2012.