Drug development in oncology: a regulatory perspective.

The ultimate goal of any drug development, including that in oncology, is to register the new medicinal product. A number of challenges remain in this field, primarily in demonstrating the efficacy of the new oncology products to the satisfaction of the regulatory authorities worldwide. Key aspects of clinical trial design, conduct, and analysis that require careful consideration by the sponsors before initiation of drug development programs in oncology include the choice of primary and secondary end points, the choice of comparators, the necessity for independent radiologic review of a disease-related end point such as progression-free survival and tumor response, and the relative value of the independently reviewed and investigator-assessed clinical end points.

Bevacizumab safety in patients with central nervous system metastases.

Purpose: Patients with central nervous system (CNS) metastases were excluded from bevacizumab trials following a case of fatal cerebral hemorrhage in a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma in 1997. Safety information for bevacizumab-treated patients with CNS metastases was reviewed to determine whether general exclusion of these patients from bevacizumab treatment is still justified.

Experimental Design: A retrospective exploratory analysis was conducted using datasets from 13 randomized controlled phase II/III trials (dataset A), two open-label single-arm safety trials (dataset B), and two prospective studies including patients with treated CNS metastases (dataset C).