The future of clinical research in oncology: where are we heading to?

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Clinical Pharmacology
• Biostatistics

Background:

• Anticancer drug development faces slow progress and high attrition rates.
• Current approaches struggle to integrate clinical, biological, and imaging data effectively.
• The quality and design of modern clinical trials are critical for reliable evidence generation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight the need for new skills in integrating multimodal data for improved decision-making in drug development.
• To emphasize the importance of quality assurance in clinical trials.
• To advocate for enhanced collaboration between industry and academia to reduce drug attrition.

Main Methods:

• Review of current challenges in oncological research and drug development.
• Discussion of data integration strategies (clinical, biological, imaging).
• Emphasis on quality assurance and collaborative models for clinical trials.

Main Results:

• High attrition rates in anticancer drug development necessitate new strategies.
• Integration of diverse data can identify tumor molecular sub-entities and guide therapeutic strategies.
• Improved clinical trial design and quality assurance are essential for robust evidence.

Conclusions:

• Enhanced data integration and improved clinical trial quality are crucial for advancing cancer treatments.
• Stronger industry-academia collaboration can reduce drug attrition and minimize patient risk.
• New skills and platforms are needed to optimize the drug development pipeline and therapeutic strategies.