Access to New Medicines: Which Surrogate Endpoints Matter

Do we need to evolve the bar on evidence required for drug reimbursement? The gold standard endpoint for assessing the benefit of anti-cancer drugs has been overall survival (OS) however, more recently, there has been a trend toward using surrogate clinical trial endpoints such as progression free survival (PFS) and event-free survival (EFS). As treatments improve and patients are living longer, using OS as a primary endpoint can mean a longer time until a result is obtained. In this podcast, Dr Rebecca Tay, Medical Oncologist at Royal Hobart Hospital and ICON, discusses the critical role of improvement in quality of life in assessing drugs that are funded on the PBS, the nuances around clinical trial endpoints and the need for surrogate endpoints that accurately predict for OS and a reimbursement system that brings beneficial treatments to patients faster. Professor Nick Pavlakis, Chair of TOGA and Medical Oncologist at Royal North Shore Hospital and Genesis Care and Dr Deme Karikios, Immediate Past Chair of MOGA and Medical Oncologist from Nepean Hospital Sydney join the conversation. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2817337

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