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Discontinued drugs in 2011: oncology drugs

Robert Williams1

  • 1Drug Development Office, Cancer Research UK, Angel Building, 407 St John Street, London EC1V 4AD, UK. robert.williams@cancer.org.uk

Expert Opinion on Investigational Drugs
|November 7, 2012
PubMed

Insights

The number of oncology drug development terminations increased in 2011, with 37 candidate drugs discontinued. A significant number of these oncology drugs were terminated during early-stage Phase I development.

Area of Science:

  • Oncology
  • Drug Development
  • Clinical Trials

Background:

  • The oncology drug development pipeline has seen increasing candidate drug terminations in recent years.
  • Understanding discontinuation trends is crucial for optimizing anticancer drug development strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze the number and reasons for drug discontinuations in oncology during 2011.
  • To identify trends in early-stage (Phase I) oncology drug development terminations.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of global oncology drug development pipeline data for 2011.
  • Categorization of drug discontinuations by development phase and reported reasons.

Main Results:

  • 37 oncology drugs were discontinued in 2011, an increase from 28 in 2010.
  • 23 drugs were discontinued during or at the end of Phase I development.
  • Strategic reasons were a notable factor in drug terminations.

Conclusions:

  • The trend of increasing oncology drug development terminations continued in 2011.
  • A high proportion of discontinuations occurred in Phase I, highlighting challenges in early drug development.
  • The findings reflect the dynamic and evolving landscape of anticancer drug development.

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