PhRMA: Cancer drug 'failures' are a critical part of the drug development process
WASHINGTON — The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America on Tuesday released a new report, “Researching Cancer Medicines: Setbacks and Stepping Stones,” which highlights the number of investigational cancer medicines that did not succeed in clinical trials and how these “failures” are a critical part of the drug development process.
The report illustrates the immense challenges in bringing new medicines to patients with cancer, and explores the factors that contributed to both the approvals of new treatments and those that “failed” between 1998 and 2014. The report focuses on three cancers that are particularly difficult to treat: melanoma, lung cancer and brain cancer.
Findings include:
96 potential treatments for melanoma did not make it through clinical trials, but paved the way for 7 approved medicines, a nearly 14:1 ratio of “failures” to “successes”;
10 medicines have been approved to treat lung cancer, whereas 167 other potential treatments did not make it through clinical trials; and
Only 3 new medicines have been approved to treat brain cancer, while another 75 investigational medicines were unsuccessful in the development process.
Despite these challenges, America’s biopharmaceutical companies continue to invest in research to develop new treatments. According to a new report by PhRMA, there are nearly 800 cancer medicines and vaccines either in clinical trials or awaiting review by the Food and Drug Administration. Of these medicines, more than 50 are for the treatment of melanoma, 98 for lung cancer and 47 for brain cancer.
“While it may sound counterintuitive, research setbacks are instrumental to furthering efforts to better understand a disease and how to treat it. They are also an indication of the incredible difficulty in developing medicines to treat cancer,” stated John Castellani, PhRMA president and CEO. “These setbacks serve as a reminder that to make progress, we need a public policy framework that supports drug development in combination with promising science so that we can bring important innovations to patients.”
Significant advancements in the treatment of diseases like cancer are typically the result of cumulative innovation over time, rather than a single breakthrough in treatment. Every success — and every “failure” — builds on previous advances to improve patients’ lives. Research has shown that cancer is actually a set of more than 200 extremely complex diseases and discovering medicines that effectively treat each one is a difficult task.
“While it is incredibly disappointing to see a promising new drug candidate eliminated from the pipeline, researchers take immeasurable learnings from every setback and build upon each one to develop effective therapies for patients,” said Castellani.
The release of the “Researching Cancer Medicines: Setbacks and Stepping Stones,” report comes in advance of the Turning the Tide Against Cancer National Conference on Oct. 9. At the meeting, Castellani will join other health care stakeholders to discuss ways to improve cancer care and promote innovation.