scholarly journals Advances in drug development for hepatocellular carcinoma: clinical trials and potential therapeutic targets

Author(s):  
Xiang-Yuan Luo ◽  
Kong-Ming Wu ◽  
Xing-Xing He

AbstractAlthough hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the deadliest health burdens worldwide, few drugs are available for its clinical treatment. However, in recent years, major breakthroughs have been made in the development of new drugs due to intensive fundamental research and numerous clinical trials in HCC. Traditional systemic therapy schemes and emerging immunotherapy strategies have both advanced. Between 2017 and 2020, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a variety of drugs for the treatment of HCC, including multikinase inhibitors (regorafenib, lenvatinib, cabozantinib, and ramucirumab), immune checkpoint inhibitors (nivolumab and pembrolizumab), and bevacizumab combined with atezolizumab. Currently, there are more than 1000 ongoing clinical trials involving HCC, which represents a vibrant atmosphere in the HCC drug research and development field. Additionally, traditional Chinese medicine approaches are being gradually optimized. This review summarizes FDA-approved agents for HCC, elucidates promising agents evaluated in clinical phase I/II/III trials and identifies emerging targets for HCC treatment. In addition, we introduce the development of HCC drugs in China. Finally, we discuss potential problems in HCC drug therapy and possible future solutions and indicate future directions for the development of drugs for HCC treatment.

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 5065
Author(s):  
Albert Jang ◽  
David M. Adler ◽  
Grant P. Rauterkus ◽  
Mehmet A. Bilen ◽  
Pedro C. Barata

For decades, limited options existed to treat metastatic genitourinary cancers, including treatment options that could be classified as immunotherapy. Historically, immunotherapy centered on systemic cytokines for the treatment of metastatic kidney cancer, which had several adverse effects, as well as the Bacillus Calmette–Guérin vaccine for non-metastatic bladder cancer. Within the past decade, advances in immunotherapy have led to several approvals from the United States Food and Drug Administration, particularly in the field of immune checkpoint inhibition. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are now being used extensively to treat multiple solid tumors, including kidney and bladder cancers, and they are also being tested in many other cancers. Despite encouraging data from phase 2/3 clinical trials, less is known about biomarkers that may predict better response to ICIs. The effect of ICIs in genitourinary cancers is heterogeneous, with some tumor types having little clinical data available, or ICIs having limited activity in other tumors. In this review, we briefly discuss approved immunotherapy agents prior to the time of ICIs. Then, given the emergence of this class of agents, we summarize the several important ICIs and the clinical trials that led to their approval. Finally, we mention ongoing and future clinical trials.


Author(s):  
Hindustan Abdul Ahad ◽  
Haranath Chinthaginjala ◽  
Gangireddy Jayasimha Reddy ◽  
Pasupuleti Dheeraj Krishna ◽  
Syed Rahamathulla ◽  
...  

The United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) is one of the main regulated agencies wherein the submission and approval of the new drugs is done. This review is based on the process of submission to the ANDA as per FDA norms as described in paragraph IV submission in Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD and C Act). No drug would exist in the market until it gets accepted by regulatory authorities. The ANDA submission is for those firms seeking to copy branded drugs before running out of patents to get profit on them. A generic applicant must provide in its application a "certification" that a patent submitted to FDA by the brand-name drug's sponsor and scheduled in FDA's Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations (the Orange Book). A Generic Product must meet the standards recognized by FDA in Reference listed drugs (RLD). This study concludes the process of ANDA submission to FDA and acts correlated to the submission in paragraph IV, the details of ANDA filling in the eCTD format and overview of the review process the checklist to the applicant.


Cancers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1078 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amit Mahipal ◽  
Sri Harsha Tella ◽  
Anuhya Kommalapati ◽  
Alexander Lim ◽  
Richard Kim

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver cancer with dismal prognosis when diagnosed at advanced stages. Surgical resection of the primary tumor or orthotropic liver transplantation serves as a potential curative option. However, this approach is highly dependent on the hepatic reserve and baseline functional status of the patient. Liver directed therapies such as portal vein embolization (PVE), trans-arterial chemoembolization (TACE), and systemic chemotherapy are employed in non-surgical candidates. Sorafenib was the only approved systemic therapeutic agent for almost a decade until the recent approval of lenvatinib by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an alternate first-line agent. Regorafenib, nivolumab, pembrolizumab and cabozantinib are approved by the FDA as second-line agents in patients who failed or could not tolerate sorafenib. Ramucirumab was recently FDA approved for the subset of patients that have high alfa-fetoprotein levels (>400 ng/mL). A better understanding of tumorigenesis and encouraging clinical trial results that evaluated immune-checkpoint inhibitors opened doors for immunotherapy in HCC. Immune checkpoint inhibitors have demonstrated a prolonged median overall and progression-free survival in a subset of patients with HCC. On-going translational and clinical research will hopefully provide us with a better understanding of tumor markers, genetic aberrations and other factors that determine the immunotherapy response in HCC. In this review, we sought to summarize the potential role and future directions of immunotherapy in the management of HCC.


1996 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 252-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Freedman ◽  
Kathleen Cranley Glass ◽  
Charles Weijer

Placebo-controlled trials are held by many, including regulators at agencies like the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to be the gold standard in the assessment of new medical interventions. Yet the use of placebo controls in clinical trials has been the focus of considerable controversy. In this two-part article, we challenge a number of common beliefs concerning the value of placebo controls. Part I critiques statistical and other scientific justifications for the use of placebo controls in clinical research. The continued use of placebo controls in clinical trials on diseases for which accepted treatment exists raises equally important ethical, legal, and regulatory issues for which various justifications have been given. Defense of this practice relies on normative as well as empirical myths.In their attack on the prevailing use of placebo controls, Kenneth Rothman and Karin Michels emphasize that this practice stands in violation of the World Medical Association's guidelines on the ethics of human experimentation, most commonly known as the Helsinki Declaration.


2002 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 879-881 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Powers ◽  
David B. Ross ◽  
Erica Brittain ◽  
Renata Albrecht ◽  
Mark J. Goldberger

Pharmaceutics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1101
Author(s):  
Aravindram Attiguppe Seetharam ◽  
Hani Choudhry ◽  
Muhammed A. Bakhrebah ◽  
Wesam H. Abdulaal ◽  
Maram Suresh Gupta ◽  
...  

Microneedles (MNs) are tiny needle like structures used in drug delivery through layers of the skin. They are non-invasive and are associated with significantly less or no pain at the site of administration to the skin. MNs are excellent in delivering both small and large molecules to the subjects in need thereof. There exist several strategies for drug delivery using MNs, wherein each strategy has its pros and cons. Research in this domain lead to product development and commercialization for clinical use. Additionally, several MN-based products are undergoing clinical trials to evaluate its safety, efficacy, and tolerability. The present review begins by providing bird’s-eye view about the general characteristics of MNs followed by providing recent updates in the treatment of cancer using MNs. Particularly, we provide an overview of various aspects namely: anti-cancerous MNs that work based on sensor technology, MNs for treatment of breast cancer, skin carcinoma, prostate cancer, and MNs fabricated by additive manufacturing or 3 dimensional printing for treatment of cancer. Further, the review also provides limitations, safety concerns, and latest updates about the clinical trials on MNs for the treatment of cancer. Furthermore, we also provide a regulatory overview from the “United States Food and Drug Administration” about MNs.


Liver Cancer ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 640-662
Author(s):  
Masatoshi Kudo

Systemic therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has changed markedly since the introduction of the molecular targeted agent sorafenib in 2007. Sorafenib increased the available treatment options for patients with extrahepatic spread and vascular invasion and improved survival in patients with advanced HCC; however, various shortcomings such as low response rates and relatively high toxicity (e.g., hand-foot skin reaction) prompted concerted efforts aimed at developing new molecular targeted agents to provide more treatment options and second-line agents for patients with disease progression or intolerance to sorafenib. Despite many attempts to develop new drugs between 2007 and 2016, all first-line and second-line clinical trials conducted during this period failed. However, between 2017 and 2019, 4 drugs (lenvatinib as a first-line agent and regorafenib, cabozantinib, and ramucirumab as second-line agents) emerged in quick succession from clinical trials and became available for clinical use. In addition, nivolumab and pembrolizumab were approved as second-line agents after sorafenib. A recent phase III trial (IMbrave150) showed that combination immunotherapy with atezolizumab plus bevacizumab increases overall survival compared with sorafenib therapy; Food and Drug Agency already approved this combination therapy, and worldwide approval is expected soon. This review describes the recent advances in systemic therapy and the use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (sorafenib, lenvatinib, regorafenib, and cabozantinib), monoclonal antibodies (ramucirumab and bevacizumab), and immune checkpoint inhibitors (nivolumab, pembrolizumab, and atezolizumab) in elderly patients and the similarity of their efficacy and safety profiles to those in the general population.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danah Al Shaer ◽  
Othman Al Musaimi ◽  
Fernando Albericio ◽  
Beatriz de la Torre

In 2018, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a total of 59 new drugs, three of them (5%) are TIDES (or also, -tides), two oligonucleotides and one peptide. Herein, the three TIDES approved are analyzed in terms of medical target, mode of action, chemical structure, and economics.


2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 174-175
Author(s):  
Nancy L. Losben

In 2020 The United States Food and Drug Administration?s (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) approved 53 novel drugs, five more than in 2019, but still an aggressive number when compared with 2015 when only 45 new drugs were released to the market. CDER, the largest department within the FDA, has robustly approved a rising number of generic drugs in the last several years, increasing their accessibility and reducing patient and payor costs.


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