Designing Dose-Optimization Studies in Cancer Drug Development: Discussions with Regulators

The article provides a summary of discussions from the American Statistical Association (ASA) Biopharmaceutical (BIOP) Section Open Forums on March 18th, June 10th, and July 8th of 2021, organized by the ASA BIOP Statistical Methods in Oncology Scientific Working Group in coordination with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Oncology Center of Excellence and the LUNGevity Foundation. Diverse stakeholders including oncologists, patient advocates, experts from regulatory agencies across the world, academicians, and representatives from the pharmaceutical industry engaged in a lively discussion on strategies for and designs of dose-optimization studies in cancer drug development. Dose-optimization is one of the major challenges in oncology drug development. The discussions were focused on considerations in designing dose-optimization studies of products for treatment of cancer patients in pre-approval and post-approval stages. Presenters and panelists discussed diverse ideas and methods and agreed that a shift in paradigm is required in oncology drug development that should improve dose optimization while not unnecessarily delaying patient access to potentially efficacious new treatments.