Posted by Michael Wonder on 02 Dec 2016
Cancer drugs may remain approved despite lack of benefit
1 December 2016 - In the United States, cancer drugs are sometimes approved through sped-up processes - and they often stay approved even if later studies show them to be inferior to other options or even worse than doing nothing, a new study found.
Researchers evaluated studies done on 18 cancer drugs approved between 2008 and 2012 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). None of the drugs had been found to prolong life, and only one had enough evidence to say it improved quality of life. Yet, all but one retained its approval status.
"We were shocked to find that these drugs don’t save lives and don’t improve quality of lives," said lead author Diana Zuckerman, who is president of the National Center for Health Research and the Cancer Prevention and Treatment Fund in Washington, D.C.
