In 2018, the FDA approved 19 new drug and biologic applications, 38 supplemental drug and biologic applications and 4 biosimilar applications in oncology. These advances in anticancer therapy included a landmark approval of the first histology-agnostic, biomarker-defined new molecular entity and approvals based on real-time data review and novel end points, such as minimal residual disease rate and metastasis-free survival.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Relevant articles
Open Access articles citing this article.
-
A vaccine-based nanosystem for initiating innate immunity and improving tumor immunotherapy
Nature Communications Open Access 24 April 2020
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Drilon, A. et al. Efficacy of larotrectinib in TRK fusion-positive cancers in adults and children. N. Engl. J. Med. 378, 731–739 (2018).
US Food and Drug Administration. Expansion cohorts: use in first-in-human clinical trials to expedite development of oncology drugs and biologics. FDA https://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/Guidances/UCM616325.pdf (2018).
US Food and Drug Administration. Master protocols: efficient clinical trial design strategies to expedite development of oncology drugs and biologics. FDA https://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/Guidances/UCM621817.pdf (2018).
Blumenthal, G. M. & Pazdur, R. Approvals in 2017: gene therapies and site-agnostic indications. Nat. Rev. Clin. Oncol. 15, 127–128 (2018).
Beaver, J. A., Kluetz, P. F. & Pazdur, R. Metastasis-free survival — a new end point in prostate cancer trials. N. Engl. J. Med. 378, 2458–2460 (2018).
US Food & Drug Administration. Nonmetastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer: considerations for metastasis-free survival endpoint in clinical trials. FDA https://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/Guidances/UCM625703.pdf (2018).
US Food & Drug Administration. Clinical trial endpoints for the approval of cancer drugs and biologics. FDA https://www.fda.gov/downloads/drugsGuidanceComplianceRegulatoyInformation/Guidance/UCM071590.pdf (2018).
US Food & Drug Administration. Hematologic malignancies: regulatory considerations for use of minimal residual disease in development of drug and biological products for treatment. FDA https://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/Guidances/UCM623333.pdf (2018).
US Food & Drug Administration. FDA alerts health care professionals and oncology clinical investigators about an efficacy issue identified in clinical trials for some patients taking Keytruda (pembrolizumab) or Tecentriq (atezolizumab) as monotherapy to treat urothelial cancer with low expression of PD-L1. FDA https://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm608075.htm (2018).
Gormley, N. J. & Pazdur, R. Immunotherapy combinations in multiple myeloma — known unknowns. N. Engl. J. Med. 379, 1791–1795 (2018).
Blumenthal, G. M. et al. Real-time oncology review and the assessment aid: increasing review efficiency through standardization and earlier data access. Friends of Cancer Research https://www.focr.org/sites/default/files/ROTR%20White%20Paper%201.pdf (2018).
Sutter, S. Project renewal: US FDA’s plan to update generic cancer drug labels depends on NDA holders. Pink Sheet Pharma intelligence https://pink.pharmaintelligence.informa.com/PS124262/Project-Renewal-US-FDAs-Plan-To-Update-Generic-Cancer-Drug-Labels-Depends-On-NDA-Holders (2018).
Usdin, S. FDA to facilitate access to unapproved drugs. BioCentury https://www.biocentury.com/biocentury/regulation/2018-12-14/how-fda-plans-help-patients-get-expanded-access-unapproved-drugs (2018).
Acknowledgements
The authors thank K. Goldberg for her assistance in editing this manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Supplementary information
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Blumenthal, G.M., Pazdur, R. Approvals in 2018: a histology-agnostic new molecular entity, novel end points and real-time review. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 16, 139–141 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41571-019-0170-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41571-019-0170-z
This article is cited by
-
Targeted Therapy in Early Stage Non-small Cell Lung Cancer
Current Treatment Options in Oncology (2022)
-
A vaccine-based nanosystem for initiating innate immunity and improving tumor immunotherapy
Nature Communications (2020)
-
Neue Konzepte der Zulassung von Onkologika jenseits randomisierter klinischer Studien
Der Onkologe (2019)