An analysis of target-specific patient resource utilization in NSCLC clinical trials.

2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e18112-e18112
Author(s):  
Neeta Somaiah ◽  
George R. Simon

e18112 Background: A plethora of targeted agents are currently being evaluated in patients with NSCLC. The number of targeted agents exceeds the number of targets leading to many targeted agents being evaluated against similar targets. The identification of new targets are likely to increase exponentially in the near future given the numerous currently ongoing molecular profiling efforts. The objective of this analysis is to estimate the target-specific patient resource utilization and its impact on routine clinical care. Methods: A comprehensive search for molecularly targeted agents in clinical testing that have accrued or are accruing NSCLC patients were performed by using publically available search engines and databases. Agents were grouped according to the primary target and the phase of development. We computed the number of patients allocated to completed and ongoing phase III NSCLC trials for advanced NSCLC alone. Results: There are more than 30 categories of molecular targets accruing NSCLC patients in clinical trials. By conservative estimates, approximately 215 agents are currently undergoing clinical testing. The median number of agents per target is 7 (range 2 (HIF-1α and PDGFRα) – 24 (EGFR)). There are 7 EGFR inhibitors and 10 VEGFR inhibitors that were evaluated in phase III trials; with 36,093 and 20,313 stage IV NSCLC patients enrolled or to be enrolled in these trials, respectively. No more than 2 agents per target have been FDA approved for NSCLC to date. Further details of the analyses will be more comprehensively presented at the meeting. Conclusions: Patient resource utilization is unevenly distributed across targets. The optimal number of targeted agents to be evaluated per target remains to be defined. More emphasis on identifying new targets and targeting these with limited number of optimal agents may accelerate the advancement of the field and the impact on patient care.

2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (30_suppl) ◽  
pp. 34-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sumithra J. Mandrekar ◽  
Ming-Wen An ◽  
Daniel J. Sargent

34 Background: Phase II clinical trials aim to identify promising experimental regimens for further testing in phase III trials. Testing targeted therapies with predictive biomarkers mandates efficient trial designs. Current biomarker-based trial designs, including the enrichment, all-comers, and adaptive designs, randomize patients to receive treatment or not throughout the entire duration of the trial. Recognizing the need for randomization yet acknowledging the possibility of promising but nonconclusive results after a preplanned interim analysis (IA), we propose a two-stage phase II design that allows for the possibility of direct assignment (i.e., stop randomization and assign all patients to the experimental arm in stage II) based on IA results. Methods: Using simulations, we compared properties of the direct assignment option design to a 1:1 randomized phase II design and assessed the impact of the timing of IA (after 33%, 50%, or 67% of accrual) and number of IA (one versus two with option for direct assignment at the first and second) over a range of response rate ratios (between 1.0 and 3.0). Results: Between 12% and 30% of the trials (out of 6,000 simulated trials) adopt direct assignment in stage II, with direct adoption depending on the treatment effect size and specified type I error rate (TIER). The direct assignment option design has minimal loss in power (<1.8%) and minimal increase in T1ER (<2.1%) compared to a 1:1 randomized design. The maximum loss in power across possible timings of IA was <1.2%. For the direct assignment option design, there was a 20%-50% increase in the number of patients treated on the experimental (vs. control) arm for the 1 IA case, and 40%-100% increase for the 2 IA case. Conclusions: Testing predictive biomarkers in clinical trials requires new design strategies. In the spectrum of phase II designs from adaptive to balanced randomized all-comers or enrichment designs, the direct assignment design provides a middle ground with desirable statistical properties that may appeal to both clinicians and patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tereza Vaclova ◽  
Ursula Grazini ◽  
Lewis Ward ◽  
Daniel O’Neill ◽  
Aleksandra Markovets ◽  
...  

AbstractAdvanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with EGFR T790M-positive tumours benefit from osimertinib, an epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI). Here we show that the size of the EGFR T790M-positive clone impacts response to osimertinib. T790M subclonality, as assessed by a retrospective NGS analysis of 289 baseline plasma ctDNA samples from T790M‐positive advanced NSCLC patients from the AURA3 phase III trial, is associated with shorter progression-free survival (PFS), both in the osimertinib and the chemotherapy-treated patients. Both baseline and longitudinal ctDNA profiling indicate that the T790M subclonal tumours are enriched for PIK3CA alterations, which we demonstrate to confer resistance to osimertinib in vitro that can be partially reversed by PI3K pathway inhibitors. Overall, our results elucidate the impact of tumour heterogeneity on response to osimertinib in advanced stage NSCLC patients and could help define appropriate combination therapies in these patients.


2010 ◽  
Vol 28 (18) ◽  
pp. 2996-3001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lester J. Peters ◽  
Brian O'Sullivan ◽  
Jordi Giralt ◽  
Thomas J. Fitzgerald ◽  
Andy Trotti ◽  
...  

Purpose To report the impact of radiotherapy quality on outcome in a large international phase III trial evaluating radiotherapy with concurrent cisplatin plus tirapazamine for advanced head and neck cancer. Patients and Methods The protocol required interventional review of radiotherapy plans by the Quality Assurance Review Center (QARC). All plans and radiotherapy documentation underwent post-treatment review by the Trial Management Committee (TMC) for protocol compliance. Secondary review of noncompliant plans for predicted impact on tumor control was performed. Factors associated with poor protocol compliance were studied, and outcome data were analyzed in relation to protocol compliance and radiotherapy quality. Results At TMC review, 25.4% of the patients had noncompliant plans but none in which QARC-recommended changes had been made. At secondary review, 47% of noncompliant plans (12% overall) had deficiencies with a predicted major adverse impact on tumor control. Major deficiencies were unrelated to tumor subsite or to T or N stage (if N+), but were highly correlated with number of patients enrolled at the treatment center (< five patients, 29.8%; ≥ 20 patients, 5.4%; P < .001). In patients who received at least 60 Gy, those with major deficiencies in their treatment plans (n = 87) had a markedly inferior outcome compared with those whose treatment was initially protocol compliant (n = 502): −2 years overall survival, 50% v 70%; hazard ratio (HR), 1.99; P < .001; and 2 years freedom from locoregional failure, 54% v 78%; HR, 2.37; P < .001, respectively. Conclusion These results demonstrate the critical importance of radiotherapy quality on outcome of chemoradiotherapy in head and neck cancer. Centers treating only a few patients are the major source of quality problems.


2006 ◽  
Vol 24 (18_suppl) ◽  
pp. 6104-6104
Author(s):  
J. L. Pater ◽  
W. Parulekar

6104 Background: The use of placebos in cancer clinical trials requires careful evaluation. Factors that must be considered include the impact of placebo on endpoint measurement, the efficacy of placebo relative to standard of care treatment, patient altruism/acceptance of a non-active intervention and the resulting increase in complexity of study conduct with respect to randomization, drug supply, data management, analysis and the unblinding process. Methods: We reviewed the experience of the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group with the use of placebo in the randomized phase III setting from 1982–2005. Results: Since 1982, 34 studies were identified that utilized a placebo as part of study design. Data is presented below according to the type of study and date of study activation. The numbers in brackets represent those studies in which placebo was used alone in the control arm. Supportive care studies were the most common type of study employing a placebo as part of study design and constituted almost 50% of our Group’s experience. Therapeutic studies involving placebo were conducted in multiple sites including breast (4), lung (6), myeloma (1), melanoma (1), ovary (1) and pancreas (1). Conclusion: Phase III studies involving a placebo constitute an important part of our clinical trial activity and cross the spectrum of supportive care, therapeutic and prevention trials. The use of placebo in cancer studies may increase due to the relative ease of blinding in studies that evaluate targeted, oral therapies with minimal toxicities as well as the need for unbiased assessment of increasingly used endpoints such as time to progression. [Table: see text] No significant financial relationships to disclose.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e12105-e12105
Author(s):  
Daniel D’Almeida Preto ◽  
André Octavio Nicolau Sanches ◽  
Alison Wagner Azevedo Barroso ◽  
Alessandra Caroline Moretto Carbinatto ◽  
Ana Lima Veneziani ◽  
...  

e12105 Background: The best sequence of anthracyclines and taxanes in the neoadjuvant chemotherapy of HER2-negative breast cancer is still unknown. The aims of this study were to assess the impact of the sequence order in the pathological complete response (pCR) rate, and in the disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 235 HER2-negative breast cancer women treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy from 2003 to 2011 at our cancer center. The patients were pooled in two groups: anthracycline-based followed by taxanes (AC-T) and the reverse sequence (T-AC). The chi-square test was performed to verify the homogeneity between the groups and to compare pCR rate among the treatment groups. Cumulative survival probabilities were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Differences between survivals were tested using the log-rank test. Results: The AC-T (n = 161) and T-AC (n = 74) groups were balanced for age, staging, receptor profile and histologic grade. The follow-up was at least five years for each patient. The median age was 50.1 years. Most patients (97%) had stage III tumors and 72 (30%) had triple negative disease. pCR rate was higher in triple negative compared with luminal cases (16.3 vs. 7.3%; p = 0.049). Treatment sequence did not influence the occurrence of pCR (10.5 vs. 8.5%; p = 0.8) or median survival times (DFS: 87.9 vs. 64.1, p = 0.85; OS: 91.1 vs. 71.6 months, p = 0.15), in the AC-T and T-AC groups, respectively. Conclusions: The sequence of neoadjuvant taxane-anthracycline-based chemotherapy regimen in daily practice did not show difference in the evaluated clinical outcomes. The retrospective design and the low number of patients may limit the power of the study to detect statistically significant differences. Phase III trials should be stimulated in this context. [Table: see text]


2015 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. e1.27-e1
Author(s):  
Elsa Maksooud ◽  
Evelyne Jacqz-Aigrain

IntroductionThe French Network of Pediatric Clinical Investigations Centers (FN-PCIC) created in 2000 includes today 16 CIC grouped under the auspices of the INSERM and the corresponding public university hospitals. In response to the European pediatric regulation published in 2007, all pharmaceuticals laboratories, in order to complete their drug profile, must conduct pediatric clinical trials according to the Pediatric Clinical Investigation Plan and validated by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). This network plays a major role in facilitating and optimizing the conduction of nation-wide pediatric clinical trials. Therefore, the PN-CIC plays a major role to response to this acute demand in the pediatric field. The purpose of this review is to sum up the activity of the FN-PCIC between 2008 and 2013 and to analyze the impact of the European regulation.MethodsOnly the industrial protocols will be analyzed, for every protocol a certain number of information was collected such as the pharmaceutical industry, the therapeutic fields, the phase of the study, the duration of the study, the methodology, and the number of patients needed.Results261 protocols were active during this period by 90 different sponsors. 218 were interventional studies and 43 were observational or non-drug studies (registers, post-AMM). The number of active studies was at 127 in 2013 compared to 76 in 2008. Furthermore, the total number of participations were 242 for 16 CIC in 2013 compared to 110 in 2008. The mean inclusion rate was 87%. The percentage of the common studies rises from 36% in 2008 to 50% in 2013. In addition, the feasibility study demands increased and were as high as 57, an average of one demand per week The inclusion percentage calculated using the data of the closed studies is at 87%. The therapeutic fields concerned were nephrology and oncology (15%), then neurology and pneumology (13%).ConclusionActivity increased, linked to the national coverage now including 16 centers and high quality procedures to perform pediatric research trials under high ethical and quality standards.


1988 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul L. Kornblith ◽  
Michael Walker

✓ There continues to be an extensive effort to develop chemotherapeutic approaches to the treatment of malignant gliomas of the brain. In the past 5 years there have been literally hundreds of trials of new agents, combinations of old and new agents, and even new routes and approaches to the delivery of chemotherapy. In this review, the literature has been studied and the individual reports analyzed to evaluate the impact of the new findings on clinical management of the patient with malignant glioma of the brain. The major areas of progress include the addition of new drugs with varying modes of action, the use of combinations of drugs in a synergistic fashion, and the development of new routes of drug delivery. None of the advances has brought about the revolution in clinical care that is so eagerly sought, but clearly the amount of new knowledge gained by these studies helps in understanding how to use chemotherapy more effectively. Furthermore, the remarkable degree of interest and involvement in the use of chemotherapy promises that an even greater number of patients with malignant gliomas will be considered for vigorous and enthusiastic clinical management programs even if chemotherapy itself is not the key modality in the treatment of a specific patient.


2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Zhang ◽  
Boris Freidlin ◽  
Edward L Korn ◽  
Susan Halabi ◽  
Sumithra Mandrekar ◽  
...  

Background: Futility (inefficacy) interim monitoring is an important component in the conduct of phase III clinical trials, especially in life-threatening diseases. Desirable futility monitoring guidelines allow timely stopping if the new therapy is harmful or if it is unlikely to demonstrate to be sufficiently effective if the trial were to continue to its final analysis. There are a number of analytical approaches that are used to construct futility monitoring boundaries. The most common approaches are based on conditional power, sequential testing of the alternative hypothesis, or sequential confidence intervals. The resulting futility boundaries vary considerably with respect to the level of evidence required for recommending stopping the study. Purpose: We evaluate the performance of commonly used methods using event histories from completed phase III clinical trials of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group, Cancer and Leukemia Group B, and North Central Cancer Treatment Group. Methods: We considered published superiority phase III trials with survival endpoints initiated after 1990. There are 52 studies available for this analysis from different disease sites. Total sample size and maximum number of events (statistical information) for each study were calculated using protocol-specified effect size, type I and type II error rates. In addition to the common futility approaches, we considered a recently proposed linear inefficacy boundary approach with an early harm look followed by several lack-of-efficacy analyses. For each futility approach, interim test statistics were generated for three schedules with different analysis frequency, and early stopping was recommended if the interim result crossed a futility stopping boundary. For trials not demonstrating superiority, the impact of each rule is summarized as savings on sample size, study duration, and information time scales. Results: For negative studies, our results show that the futility approaches based on testing the alternative hypothesis and repeated confidence interval rules yielded less savings (compared to the other two rules). These boundaries are too conservative, especially during the first half of the study (<50% of information). The conditional power rules are too aggressive during the second half of the study (>50% of information) and may stop a trial even when there is a clinically meaningful treatment effect. The linear inefficacy boundary with three or more interim analyses provided the best results. For positive studies, we demonstrated that none of the futility rules would have stopped the trials. Conclusion: The linear inefficacy boundary futility approach is attractive from statistical, clinical, and logistical standpoints in clinical trials evaluating new anti-cancer agents.


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