How new cancer drugs can skip randomised trials
SEPTEMBER 26, 2013
In 2006 when doctors started testing a melanoma treatment made by Roche Holding AG on patients, they were used to facing slim odds — about one in eight — that the tumours would shrink on chemotherapy. This time, they couldn’t believe their eyes.
With Zelboraf, a drug that targets specific mutations in cancer cells, eight out of 10 patients in an early-stage trial experienced significant tumour shrinkage. Roche clearly had a remarkable drug, though it only worked for people with a specific genetic makeup.
Research like the Zelboraf tests, that fine-tune treatments to the genetic profile of patients, is fuelling a rethink over how new cancer drugs are tested. The promise: medicines that, in theory at least, can win approval more easily and cheaply.
