Less-common types of cancer are increasingly being studied in research trials, experts have reported.
At the International Congress on Targeted Anticancer Therapies in Paris, France, yesterday (26 February), Dr Jun Sato said: "The common cancer types are decreasing as a proportion of the patients in phase 1 studies and the uncommon types are increasing."
Dr Sato and his team, from the National Cancer Centre Hospital, Japan, looked at the changing research landscape, in which an expanding range of molecularly-targeted anticancer drugs and immunotherapy is being tested.
He added: "The development of new treatment options means there are now multiple approaches to address an increasingly broad spectrum of different types of cancer."
The work included results from 866 oncology phase 1 trials conducted worldwide, and was presented to the Congress held in Paris, France. It shows that the proportion of early-stage drug trials of the most common cancer types has declined sharply since the early 1990s.
The proportion of colorectal and lung cancer trials “declined markedly over time”, from 46.3% in 1991-95 to 16.7% in 2011-15. However, the total number of such trials grew, with trials on less common cancers rising even faster.
During this time period cancer therapy advanced rapidly, with the development of molecularly-targeted anticancer drugs and comprehensive molecular profiling techniques.
The new study found that the focus of genomic-driven clinical trials has shifted over time to less common mutations and rarer tumour types.
Since the trial period ended in 2015, immunotherapy has strongly influenced cancer research and led to rapid growth in clinical trials using this technology.
Abstract 30P, Dynamic change in the distribution of cancer types in oncology phase I trials, presented by Dr Jun Sato on 26 February 2019 at the Targeted Anticancer Therapies (TAT) International Congress 2019.
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