Are FDA Accelerated Approvals Unconditional Approvals?

Rare cancer trial design: lessons from FDA approvals.

A systematic analysis of clinical trials supporting rare cancer drug approvals may identify concepts and terms that can inform the effective design of prospective clinical trials for rare cancers. In this article, using annual incidence ≤6 of 100,000 individuals to define "rare cancer," we identified clinical trials for rare cancers, supporting U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drug appro...

Reviews and Approvals

Use of multiple endpoints and approval paths depicts a decade of FDA oncology drug approvals.

This study explores the historic use of different endpoints to support regular and accelerated approval of cancer drugs between 2002 and 2012. In the past 10 years, two thirds of oncology regular approvals were based on endpoints other than overall survival. More than three quarters of accelerated approvals were based on response rates. The accelerated approval program has been heavily used ove...

New agents for the treatment of lymphoid leukemia and lymphoma: focus on recent FDA approvals.

Leukemia and lymphoma are systemic malignancies that represent half of all childhood cancers, though 90% occur in adults. Various treatment options are available, but therapy is mainly systemic chemotherapy plus appropriate monoclonal antibodies. In certain situations radiotherapy and bone marrow transplantation play a role. Some types/subtypes of these diseases are potentially curable, yet man...

Congress is likely to approve generic drug user fees: action should spur faster FDA approvals.

$824 billion in the last decade. The cost savings benefit is obvious, and some even claim that generic products can be safer than their brand-name counterparts. Edith A. Rosato, RPh, Chief Executive Officer at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, explains: “Generic drugs, by definition, are versions of brand-name drugs that have been available in the marketplace for many years. The longer a dr...