Industry-sponsored cancer clinical trials are more likely to focus on single-agent drug therapies than trials sponsored by the federal government, according to a study published Aug. 20 in JAMA Oncology.
Researchers from Seattle-based Fred Hutch Cancer Center and New York City-based Columbia University Irving Medical Center analyzed 11,681 interventional cancer trials between 2008 and 2024 to assess differences associated with federal and industry sponsorship.
Here are seven things to know from the study:
- Industry sponsored 81.9% of the 11,681 trials included in the study, while the federal government sponsored 18.1%.
- Of the 9,569 industry-sponsored trials, 77.4% were single-agent drug trials for cancer treatment, compared with 48.6% of the 2,112 federally sponsored trials.
- Prevention trials accounted for 4.7% of federal trials versus 1.1% of industry trials, and supportive care trials accounted for 2.5% versus 0.9%.
- Trials combining drugs and biologics accounted for 19.1% of federal trials versus 7.4% of industry trials.
- Federal trials also combined drug or biologic regimens with radiotherapy more often, at 10.5% and 1.4%, respectively, and with surgery more often, at 2.5% and 0.2%, respectively.
- De-escalation designs accounted for 3.1% of federal trials versus 0.4% of industry trials.
- Rare cancer trials accounted for 17.5% of federal trials versus 12.1%, and pediatric trials accounted for 16.1% of federal trials versus 5.3%.
Read the full study here.
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