Local Clinical Trials: The Need of the Hour to Improve Global Cancer Care

Abstract

Advances in the care of cancer patients are almost always due to clinical trials that demonstrate improved patient outcomes in terms of better survival or improved quality of life. Pharmaceutical companies invest a large amount of time, effort, and money in developing novel agents, but only a few of these end up actually changing patient care. Agents such as imatinib, osimertinib, trastuzumab, rituximab, and pembrolizumab, among others, are prime examples of this approach. A recent analysis found that the median cost of development of an anticancer drug was $648.0 million.[1]