Challenges in Bringing Effective Therapies to Cancer Patients

In a recent video interview with Applied Clinical Trials, C.K. Wang, MD, chief medical officer, COTA, discussed a recent study he led on leveraging real-world data (RWD) to improve oncology reporting. Additionally, Wang highlighted recent trends and challenges in the oncology research space involving the use of RWD as well as real-world evidence (RWE).

ACT: As an oncologist, what are some of your greatest challenges in bringing the most effective therapies to patients?

Wang: This is an excellent question. There are definitely many challenges that oncologists face day to day when it comes to treating cancer patients, but I would say that two come to mind, as we speak. First and foremost is cost and financial toxicity. Now I will say that this has been a constant through time, but it has definitely become a larger issue with all of our novel therapies. As I think we all know, the majority of these novel therapies are very expensive. This cost is almost always passed on to the patient, and in more cases than not, these costs are just too high for most.

I would say that a second challenge, which has resulted from the rapid explosion of the novel therapies that we see in oncology is the understanding of what is the best sequence to use these new treatments. Our clinical trials are really not the best at helping us with this question as they are conducted only in very specific treatment settings that the sponsor is looking at, and many times they're even compared to therapies that are no longer considered to be the standard of care in that field. Now I will say though that this problem, it is a good problem to have, because in a sense, it shows, and it is the direct result of the vast number of treatments that we have in the field, but to be honest, this is a scenario where too much of a good thing too soon, or in too short of a time period can be a true challenge when it comes to translating all that into real-world everyday clinical practice.