{"id":45660,"date":"2019-09-18T21:50:47","date_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:50:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=45660"},"modified":"2019-09-24T15:09:55","modified_gmt":"2019-09-24T14:09:55","slug":"gauging-the-validity-of-cancer-drug-trials-a-call-for-collaboration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/09\/18\/gauging-the-validity-of-cancer-drug-trials-a-call-for-collaboration\/","title":{"rendered":"Gauging the validity of cancer drug trials: a call for collaboration"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/366\/bmj.l5221\">new research paper published in <\/a><\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The BMJ<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, we examine the evidence base supporting the European Medicines Agency (EMA)\u2019s approval of cancer drugs. Of 32 new cancer drugs approved by the EMA during 2014-2016, only nine had at least one randomised controlled trial that we judged to be at low risk of bias and without major criticism from the EMA\u2019s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP). <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/366\/bmj.l5221\">Our new study<\/a> adds to a growing body of research on the regulation of new cancer drugs that has raised questions about their therapeutic benefits and economic value, and the strength and credibility of the evidence supporting their market entry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/366\/bmj.l5221\">Our paper<\/a> is concerned with the validity of clinical studies. Since the publication of a landmark <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jama\/fullarticle\/386770\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">paper<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> by Schulz and colleagues in 1995, a large <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosone\/article\/comments?id=10.1371\/journal.pone.0159267\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">body<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of research has shown that deficits in the way clinical studies are designed, conducted, analysed, or reported can affect their results. Often, studies with methodological shortcomings produce biased findings, exaggerating the magnitude of benefit associated with the treatment under investigation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Such concerns are especially pertinent in cancer. Cancer drugs are now the single largest category of new drug approvals and products in <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/phrma-docs.phrma.org\/files\/dmfile\/Biopharmaceutical-Pipeline-Full-Report.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">development<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. This is cause for optimism for patients who may benefit from these developments. However, there is also growing cause for concern. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/359\/bmj.j4530\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Most<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> cancer drugs enter the market on the basis of their effects on surrogate endpoints, rather than clinical outcomes that matter to patients and their caregivers \u2013 overall survival and quality of life. Cancer drugs that appear effective on surrogate endpoints may turn out to have no effect on overall survival (recent examples include bevacizumab for <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nejm.org\/doi\/full\/10.1056\/nejmoa1308573\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">glioblastoma<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">; bevacizumab for metastatic <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ascopubs.org\/doi\/abs\/10.1200\/jco.2008.21.6457\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">breast<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/21383283\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">cancer<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">; bevacizumab for advanced ovarian <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lanonc\/article\/PIIS1470-2045(15)00086-8\/fulltext\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">cancer<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">; axitinib for advanced renal cell <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/23598172\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">carcinoma<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">; everolimus for metastatic breast <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/25231953\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">cancer<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">; atezolizumab for urothelial <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/29268948\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">cancer<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">). Worse yet, cancer drugs that appear effective on surrogate endpoints may actually have detrimental effects on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lancet\/article\/PIIS0140-6736(19)31711-8\/fulltext\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">survival<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. In the recent BELLINI <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ascopost.com\/News\/60166\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">trial<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, patients with multiple myeloma who received venetoclax had shorter survival than those who received a control treatment (even though venetoclax appeared more effective than the control on the basis of commonly-used surrogate endpoints like progression-free survival and response rate).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Complicating this picture further, cancer drug trials are often small and have relatively short follow-up durations. For example, olaratumab did not demonstrate evidence of overall survival benefits among patients with soft tissue sarcoma in the phase-3 ANNOUNCE <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ascopost.com\/News\/59688\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">trial<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> despite indicative data from a smaller phase-2 trial that supported its initial regulatory approval. In a recent <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/pdfs\/journals\/lanonc\/PIIS1470-2045(19)30338-9.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">paper<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, Del Paggio and Tannock showed that the results of clinical trials supporting cancer drug approvals are \u201cfragile\u201d: positive results in cancer drug trials can lose significance with a change in designation of very few events. This reality is starkly contrasted with the significant hype associated with new cancer drugs when they are <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ascopubs.org\/doi\/abs\/10.1200\/jco.2008.18.8771\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">discussed<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> at professional conferences and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamainternalmedicine\/article-abstract\/415782\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">reported<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the media. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cancer drug trials are complex, and some methodological deficits that may lead to bias may be inevitable. In the recently revised Cochrane risk of bias <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/366\/bmj.l4898\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">tool<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> 2.0, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">the following 5 bias domains are considered: (1) bias arising from the randomisation process; (2) bias due to deviations from intended interventions; (3) bias due to missing outcome data; (4) bias in measurement of the outcome; and (5) bias in selection of the reported result.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> In our paper, concerns due to missing outcome data and measurement of the outcome were the most common domains leading to high risk of bias judgments.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Even when trials have been labelled as &#8220;double-blind,&#8221; blinding may be compromised by occurrence of side effect profiles that are specific to one intervention. While compromised blinding does not necessarily lead to bias, it may be particularly problematic if a subjective outcome is assessed by investigators who have deduced the patient&#8217;s intervention group assignment. EMA scientists <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ejcancer.com\/article\/S0959-8049(11)00326-1\/abstract\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">acknowledge<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that a risk of compromised blinding is inherent to many cancer trials (\u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">real effectiveness of the blinding for cancer drugs can always be questioned<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201d). Yet, regulatory documents and published reports rarely discuss the potential implications of compromised blinding and any measures taken to ensure that patients are treated and evaluated in accordance with the trial protocol.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Another issue that may be difficult to address in cancer trials is ensuring that outcome data are available for all (or nearly all) patients. We observed that the proportion of patients who withdrew their consent to continue participating in a trial often varied between the experimental and control arms. Whether outcome data were available from patients who withdrew their consent was not consistently discussed. In addition, sensitivity of trial findings to missing outcome data were not routinely tested. Sometimes, trials also censored patients when they changed their assigned treatment. This is inappropriate, and likely to lead to selection <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/366\/bmj.l4898\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">bias<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, when estimating intention-to-treat effects. These issues were not fully disclosed and discussed in regulatory documents and published trial reports.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Where does this leave patients and clinicians who need to interpret trial findings and make decisions about the relative benefits and harms of alternative treatment strategies? The validity of the available evidence is a pre-requisite for shared decision-making. Currently, it is difficult, if not impossible, for patients and clinicians to gauge the validity of the clinical studies that form the basis of cancer drug approvals. In our experience, key methodological details are scattered across different documents; results of important sensitivity analyses are tucked away in extensive supplementary appendices; and trial protocols and statistical analysis plans are difficult to navigate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We recommend devising and testing novel strategies for collating and communicating information about the validity of clinical studies in the future. Several strategies could be considered. First, EMA\u2019s European Public Assessment Reports could incorporate a formal risk of bias assessment for all pivotal studies that support drug approvals. Second, the European Clinical Trials Register could require the submission of a risk of bias assessment alongside completed trial results. Third, trial investigators could complete a risk of bias assessment to accompany the publication of their trial reports in the peer-reviewed literature. Fourth, with financial support from non-conflicted entities, researchers from the academic community could develop a stand-alone website to routinely evaluate and report the risk of bias in clinical studies that support new drug approvals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We call for close collaboration among regulators, cancer trialists, academic researchers, and patients. Recently, the EMA has been at the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nejm.org\/doi\/full\/10.1056\/NEJMp1409464\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">forefront<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of regulatory transparency and data sharing initiatives. Future efforts aimed at improving the reporting standards of trial validity would greatly benefit from EMA\u2019s input and involvement. Active engagement from patients and clinicians is also essential to ensure that risk of bias information is presented in an intuitive manner that can inform patient choice and contribute to shared decision-making in clinical practice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Huseyin Naci<\/strong> \u2014 Assistant Professor of Health Policy, Department of Health Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Courtney Davis<\/strong>\u2014 Reader, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, King\u2019s College London, London, UK<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Bishal Gyawali<\/strong>\u2014 Assistant Professor of Public Health Sciences, Cancer Research Institute, Queen\u2019s University at Kingston, Kingston, Ontario, Canada<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Xotchil Romo-Sandoval<\/strong>\u2014 Research Assistant,\u00a0 Department of Health Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Christopher Booth<\/strong>\u2014 Professor of Oncology,\u00a0 Cancer Research Institute, Queen\u2019s University at Kingston, Kingston, Ontario, Canada<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a new research paper published in The BMJ, we examine the evidence base supporting the European Medicines Agency (EMA)\u2019s approval of cancer drugs. Of 32 new cancer drugs approved [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/09\/18\/gauging-the-validity-of-cancer-drug-trials-a-call-for-collaboration\/\">More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18894],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-authors-perspective"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Gauging the validity of cancer drug trials: a call for collaboration - The BMJ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/09\/18\/gauging-the-validity-of-cancer-drug-trials-a-call-for-collaboration\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gauging the validity of cancer drug trials: a call for collaboration - The BMJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a new research paper published in The BMJ, we examine the evidence base supporting the European Medicines Agency (EMA)\u2019s approval of cancer drugs. 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