Speeding Up the Evaluation of New Agents in Cancer
Parmar MK, Barthel FM, Sydes M, et al. Speeding up the evaluation of new agents in cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2008 Sep 3;100(17):1204-14. Epub 2008 Aug 26. PMID: 18728279
Responding to a slowdown in the number of new cancer treatments, the authors propose a multi-arm, multi-stage trial design as a way to evaluate treatments faster and more efficiently than current standard trial designs.
There are many steps in the process of developing and evaluating new therapies. Here, we discuss some critical components of this process and provide an impetus for an alternative approach.
- Acknowledge that Phase 2 Trials, as Currently Conducted, Are Not a Sufficiently Good Screen for Identifying Potentially Effective Therapies
- Accept that the Size of the Effect of Most New Therapies on Important Outcome Measures, Such As Overall and Disease-Specific Survival, Is Usually Modest
- Acknowledge That Only a Small Proportion of New Therapies Will Prove To Be Better Than Current Standard Therapies
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