Trends in Phase II Trials for Cancer Therapies
<i>Background</i>: Drug combinations are the standard of care in cancer treatment. Identifying effective cancer drug combinations has become more challenging because of the increasing number of drugs. However, a substantial number of cancer drugs stumble at Phase III clinical trials desp...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2021-01-01
|
| Series: | Cancers |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/13/2/178 |
| _version_ | 1797415582291722240 |
|---|---|
| author | Faruque Azam Alexei Vazquez |
| author_facet | Faruque Azam Alexei Vazquez |
| author_sort | Faruque Azam |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <i>Background</i>: Drug combinations are the standard of care in cancer treatment. Identifying effective cancer drug combinations has become more challenging because of the increasing number of drugs. However, a substantial number of cancer drugs stumble at Phase III clinical trials despite exhibiting favourable efficacy in the earlier Phase. <i>Methods</i>: We analysed recent Phase II cancer trials comprising 2165 response rates to uncover trends in cancer therapies and used a null model of non-interacting agents to infer synergistic and antagonistic drug combinations. We compared our latest efficacy dataset with a previous dataset to assess the progress of cancer therapy. <i>Results</i>: Targeted therapies reach higher response rates when used in combination with cytotoxic drugs. We identify four synergistic and 10 antagonistic combinations based on the observed and expected response rates. We demonstrate that recent targeted agents have not significantly increased the response rates. <i>Conclusions</i>: We conclude that either we are not making progress or response rate measured by tumour shrinkage is not a reliable surrogate endpoint for the targeted agents. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T05:50:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ee4fc86061d34c2a85f7477bea4c3278 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-6694 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T05:50:47Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cancers |
| spelling | doaj.art-ee4fc86061d34c2a85f7477bea4c32782023-12-03T12:18:04ZengMDPI AGCancers2072-66942021-01-0113217810.3390/cancers13020178Trends in Phase II Trials for Cancer TherapiesFaruque Azam0Alexei Vazquez1Wolfson Wohl Cancer Research Centre, Institute of Cancer Sciences, University of Glasgow, Garscube Estate, Switchback Road, Bearsden, Glasgow G61 1QH, UKWolfson Wohl Cancer Research Centre, Institute of Cancer Sciences, University of Glasgow, Garscube Estate, Switchback Road, Bearsden, Glasgow G61 1QH, UK<i>Background</i>: Drug combinations are the standard of care in cancer treatment. Identifying effective cancer drug combinations has become more challenging because of the increasing number of drugs. However, a substantial number of cancer drugs stumble at Phase III clinical trials despite exhibiting favourable efficacy in the earlier Phase. <i>Methods</i>: We analysed recent Phase II cancer trials comprising 2165 response rates to uncover trends in cancer therapies and used a null model of non-interacting agents to infer synergistic and antagonistic drug combinations. We compared our latest efficacy dataset with a previous dataset to assess the progress of cancer therapy. <i>Results</i>: Targeted therapies reach higher response rates when used in combination with cytotoxic drugs. We identify four synergistic and 10 antagonistic combinations based on the observed and expected response rates. We demonstrate that recent targeted agents have not significantly increased the response rates. <i>Conclusions</i>: We conclude that either we are not making progress or response rate measured by tumour shrinkage is not a reliable surrogate endpoint for the targeted agents.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/13/2/178canceroverall response rateclinical trialsPhase IIdrug combinations |
| spellingShingle | Faruque Azam Alexei Vazquez Trends in Phase II Trials for Cancer Therapies Cancers cancer overall response rate clinical trials Phase II drug combinations |
| title | Trends in Phase II Trials for Cancer Therapies |
| title_full | Trends in Phase II Trials for Cancer Therapies |
| title_fullStr | Trends in Phase II Trials for Cancer Therapies |
| title_full_unstemmed | Trends in Phase II Trials for Cancer Therapies |
| title_short | Trends in Phase II Trials for Cancer Therapies |
| title_sort | trends in phase ii trials for cancer therapies |
| topic | cancer overall response rate clinical trials Phase II drug combinations |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/13/2/178 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT faruqueazam trendsinphaseiitrialsforcancertherapies AT alexeivazquez trendsinphaseiitrialsforcancertherapies |