A growing reliance on industry-sponsored cancer clinical trials in the United States is a reason for concern, say researchers from the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. In a Journal of Clinical Oncology editorial, Yara Abdou, MD, and Norman E. Sharpless, MD, responded to a new study by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle that found enrollment in industry-sponsored cancer clinical trials doubled between 2008 and 2022 while federally supported trial enrollment remained flat.
From 2018 to 2022, cancer clinical trial enrollment was eight times greater in industry-sponsored studies compared to federal studies. Abdou and Sharpless called the study's findings mixed news. The good news is there has been a significant increase in industry investment in cancer clinical trials, leading to advancements in cancer therapies and a reduction in cancer mortality.
However, the bad news is the lack of growth in federally funded trial enrollment, which often addresses broader and underrepresented research areas that industry sponsors tend to avoid." Yara Abdou, MD, assistant professor of medicine and breast cancer specialist, UNC School of Medicine Industry-sponsored studies typically focus on developing and testing new drugs or treatments and often bypass other critical areas. Trials that investigate less aggressive treatments, known as de-escalation trials, or are focused on non-therapeutic outcomes such as quality of life and survivorship, rarely attract industry backing.
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