Each year, nearly 85 million Americans see a physician for at least one skin disease, with $75 billion in direct costs to the U.S. healthcare system.[i] While the FDA has approved more than 110 dermatology drugs, these treatments address only about 30 indications, leaving the vast majority of known skin conditions unaddressed. In recent years,...
Natural history studies play a crucial role in rare disease drug development, providing insights that advance discovery and shape clinical trial design. The benefits of these studies also extend to understanding patient journeys, clarifying the standard of care, identifying disease-specific centers of excellence, and surfacing opportunities to improve patient care. In this blog post, we...
Successful drug development requires a deep understanding of the disease of interest—its etiology, epidemiology, presentation, manifestations, and progression. In rare diseases, however, much of this information may be unknown. Patient populations are small and historical data are collected inconsistently and dispersed across treating physicians practicing in diverse geographies. Patient registries and natural history studies are...
Gene therapy clinical trials are logistically complex studies that require highly qualified sites and engaged patients for success. The ability to select the right sites and patients can be the difference between product failure and market approval. In this final part of a three-part blog series on gene therapy development, we provide tips on operationalizing...
To develop a successful gene therapy, sponsors must conduct research studies that balance the need for safety oversight and robust clinical evidence with the challenges of finding the right patients, pairing them with qualified sites, providing informed consent, and confirming they are capable of — and committed to — fulfilling all protocol requirements. In...
The promise of gene therapy is to provide transformative treatments that meaningfully improve quality of life for patients, many of whom are currently living with debilitating diseases. To bring these treatments to market, sponsors are tasked with conducting clinical trials that generate robust evidence with appropriate safety oversight. In addition, gene therapy trials are faced...
Prostate cancer (PC) is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers overall and the most frequently diagnosed cancer in men. The 2018 global estimate of new PC cases exceeded 1.2 million, and more than 350,000 men died from the disease worldwide.1 Over the last decade the emergence of new treatments, combined with better use of...
Background Prostate cancer (PC) is among the most commonly diagnosed cancers overall, and the most frequently diagnosed cancer in men. The 2018 global estimate of new PC cases exceeded 1.2 million with more than 350,000 deaths worldwide. Over the last decade, new treatments combined with better use of existing therapies in early-stage disease have transformed...
Patient engagement is critical to the success of oncology clinical trials, many of which have endpoints that require study participants to be followed for many years to evaluate side effects and long-term survival data. And yet, sponsors often postpone careful consideration of strategies for patient engagement and retention until after the treatment phase of their...
Patient centricity—also known as patient-centered care—has been a growing force across healthcare. Like the consumer-driven change in other industries, patient centricity upends established models. Whereas traditionally, healthcare professionals dictate care decisions with little consideration for the patient’s desires, patient-centric care puts the patient first. Its tenets include: • Empowering patients through technology • Reducing inconvenience...