It’s been 46 years since researchers Theodore Friedmann and Richard Roblin published a landmark paper in the journal Science that posed a provocative question: “Gene therapy for human genetic disease?” And while clinical trials for gene therapy drugs have become much more common in the past 20 years — more than 2,400 had been conducted...
Hailed by many as the future of cancer therapy, immuno-oncology leverages and unleashes the body’s immune system to recognize and eliminate cancer cells. Immune checkpoint inhibitors have already revolutionized the treatment of certain solid tumors and hematologic malignancies by acting on pathways that cancers co-opt to evade immune recognition. Now, emerging therapies, such as chimeric...
The invisible wounds caused by post-traumatic stress disorder can dramatically affect mental health and diminish quality of life. According to the Sidran Institute, a nonprofit organization serving people who have experienced or witnessed traumatic events, PTSD is associated with an extremely high rate of medical and mental health service use. Patients may incur the highest per-capita cost...
Immuno-oncology continues to be an exciting frontier in the fight against cancer. Researchers continue to develop drugs that allow the body to weaponize its own immune system against the growth of new tumors. Most uses of immunotherapies have been limited to cancers, like those in the lungs or pancreas, that produce a strong immune response. In his article...
The placebo response is a real psychological, physiological, and ultimately statistical phenomenon that can be a powerful therapeutic tool in the world of medicine, especially when it comes to chronic pain conditions. For a drug to be approved, its developers must be able to demonstrate that it is significantly more effective compared to a placebo....
Immuno-oncology is a unique approach to cancer treatment that leverages the body’s immune system to help fight cancer. Immuno-modulating agents such as interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon (IFN) have been used in the treatment of some solid malignancies for years, but their use has generally been limited to cancers that are immunogenic, such as melanoma and...
Immuno-gene therapeutics are transforming the therapeutic landscape of hematological malignancies. The recent approvals of two chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies—tisagenlecleucel (marketed as Kymriah™) and axicabtagene ciloleucel (marketed as Yescarta™)—mark the beginning of the next revolution in cancer treatment. However, along with demonstrated efficacy in hematologic malignancies, CAR T-cells have the capacity to elicit serious...
For hundreds of years, the medical community has known that the mere act of receiving treatment, even if it’s just a sugar pill, can improve a patient’s symptoms. Therefore, in order to ensure that the effects of an experimental treatment are real, most randomized controlled trials (RCTs) include a placebo arm. Placebos are most often...
Treating the chronic pain experienced by patients with osteoarthritis is among the most enduring challenges in analgesic drug development. Operationalizing trials for osteoarthritis of the knee requires careful consideration of study design, strategies for mitigating placebo response, and site selection. Osteoarthritis, sometimes called degenerative joint disease or degenerative arthritis, occurs when the protective cartilage on...
Unfortunately, not all oncology trials succeed. In fact, the phase success and likelihood of approval (LOA) rates for oncology are the lowest across major therapeutic areas. Although there are many reasons for these relatively poor success rates, issues determining dose, schedule, and regimen in early phase trials are among the most prominent. Why and Where...