Study: New cancer drug trials and approvals in the EU may be biased

Researchers finds that only 26% of the cancer drug trials they studied had overall survival as their main endpoint. — TNS

Around half of trials that supported new cancer drug approvals in Europe between 2014 and 2016 were judged to be at high risk of bias. This indicates that treatment effects might have been exaggerated, concludes a study published by The BMJ on Sept 18, 2019.

The findings add weight to existing research that raises serious concerns about the low standards of evidence supporting new cancer drugs, and highlight the need to improve the design, conduct, analysis and reporting of cancer drug trials.