The use of placebo control in clinical trials has long been a topic of spirited debate. Proponents maintain that placebo control is necessary for proving the safety and efficacy of investigational products. Critics argue that use of placebo sacrifices patient welfare and is unethical if a proven therapy is available. In analgesia studies, the question…
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Skin diseases are the fourth leading cause of health afflictions, affecting nearly 900 million people worldwide.1,2 At the same time, there has been a remarkable increase in dermatology drug development activity in recent years. For conditions such as atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, and melanoma, there are hundreds of ongoing or planned clinical trials.3 In this new…
Though gene therapy has been around for decades, it continues to pose extraordinary challenges in the areas of R&D, clinical development, and operation of clinical trials. Sponsors and CROs face shifting operational and regulatory demands amid rapid advances in the science of precision medicine. In our previous blog post, we discussed site selection, manufacturing, long-term…
Designing and conducting a gene therapy trial is a complex undertaking. Understanding, planning for, and overcoming the myriad challenges of operationalizing these studies will help you bring safe, breakthrough treatments to patients with unmet medical needs. In this blog post, we introduce a case study as a framework for exploring critical study design considerations of…
As scientific knowledge, clinical experience, and acceptance of gene therapy products have evolved, so have the regulatory frameworks for ensuring the safety of these novel treatments. To date, there is no harmonized international standard for regulating gene therapy products; however, the U.S., EU, and Japan have established regulatory frameworks with subtle variations. Understanding how gene…
Rare cancers account for 27 percent of all new cancer diagnoses in the U.S. and 22 percent of all new cancer diagnoses in the EU.1 With their poorly understood natural histories, phenotypic heterogeneity, and diverse clinical manifestations, rare cancers pose challenges to drug development and represent a significant unmet need in oncology. Faced with limited treatment…
Drug development is a resource-intensive endeavor. Seeking input from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration throughout the journey can help optimize those resources and maximize the likelihood of regulatory approval. When preparing to submit a new drug application, a pre-NDA meeting with the FDA can be a critical step in ensuring the submission of a…
Drug development is a resource-intensive endeavor. Seeking input from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration throughout the journey can help optimize those resources and maximize the likelihood of regulatory approval. When preparing to submit a new drug application (NDA), a pre-NDA meeting with the FDA can be a critical step in ensuring the submission of…
Rare cancers account for 22 percent of cancer diagnoses worldwide, yet there is no universally accepted definition for a “rare” cancer. Moreover, with the evolution of genomics and associated changes in categorizing tumors, some common cancers are now characterized into groups of rare cancers, each with a unique implication for patient management and therapy. Adaptive…
Rare cancers account for almost a quarter of all new cancers worldwide though there is no universally adopted definition for rare cancers. In the U.S., rare cancers are defined as those with fewer than 15 cases per 100,000 per year, whereas in the EU, they are defined as six cases per 100,000 per year. Historically,…