There is no doubt that the area of oncology development has exploded in the last few years. The global oncology pipeline at the end of 2019 had almost doubled since 2014, reaching an all-time high with 374 drugs entering Phase 1 and the approval of several new drugs with unique modes of action. But all is not rose-tinted news, in this article, Dr Laurie Smaldone Alsup, Chief Medical and Chief Scientific Officer at NDA predicts some challenges in the field of oncology.
“Historically, clinical trials are designed so that the patient is relatively unencumbered by other diseases, to make it easier to assess whether the drug works or not. But in reality, people may be elderly, have organ failure and/or have other disorders that require chronic medications for other conditions. Understanding how these new therapies behave in the real world is critical”
Article originally published on page 17 of the Jan/Feb 2019 issue of Pharmafocus
