NCCN's Policy Summit in April Will Provide Guidance on Clinical Trial Design for Personalized Medicine

On April 25, 2014, the

(

) will host the NCCN Oncology Policy Summit titled,

National Comprehensive Cancer NetworkNCCNDesigning Clinical Trials in the Era of Multiple Biomarkers and Targeted Therapies

, at the Bethesda Marriott in Bethesda, Maryland.

With cancer increasingly recognized as being comprised of many subtypes differentiated by specific molecular profiles, identifying the most effective combination therapies is challenging. Defining appropriate patient subsets, selecting agents active against specific targets, predicting effective therapeutic combinations, and appropriately interpreting clinical trial results are significant problems for pharmaceutical companies, clinicians, statisticians, and regulators. These issues will need to be addressed in order to meet the needs of people with cancer.

"Groundbreaking research advancements in oncology and the development of biomarkers and targeted therapies present unique challenges in clinical trial design," said Robert W. Carlson, MD, Chief Executive Officer, NCCN. "The NCCN Oncology Policy Summit will shed light on the complexities of statistical 'certainty' in small patient populations, consider reimbursement for biomarker testing for eligibility in clinical trial enrollment, and present debate about whether conventional clinical trial design is practical in this new treatment environment."

Read the press release here:

http://bit.ly/1hTM3cG

Source: NCCN