Cancer Clinical Trials are The Worst Victim of the Pandemic
(Thursday, February 25, 2021)
Clinical trials for oncology products have come to literal standstill due to the pandemic and it seems it would be at least 2-5 years before things go back to pre-pandemic levels. Not only that, the pandemic has also severely curtailed the fund-raising for companies and non-profit organizations in the oncology space, some by as much as 60-80% below the pre-pandemic levels, promising that hard times for these products will be there for extended periods. The oncology trials were one of the first trials to be stopped at the beginning of the pandemic-forced shutdowns since these trials involve some of the most immunocompromised and vulnerable patients. These patients also are more likely to avoid hospitals and clinics for fear of infection. And these studies are hard to run virtually as most involve extended site visits for infusions and tests and could be conducted only at limited locations. With the vaccinations on the rise, at least in the US and Western Europe, mobility of the patients and access to the sites is expected to get better by the summer but the loss of momentum and fear of the variants of the coronavirus is expected to keep patients away from sites. It is important that sponsors of oncology trials continue their efforts to find alternate trial operations such as home visits for the patients, semi-virtual visit where the patient can be sent to alternate sites for scans and blood draws, and other measures to comfort the patients of their safety while in clinical trials. Oncology trials are also expected to be the slowest to rebound despite being critical not only to evaluate new products but also to provide access to patients to state-of-the-art new treatments under development that can only be available to them via clinical trials.

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AUTHOR               

 Dr. Mukesh Kumar
​ Founder & CEO, FDAMap

 Email: mkumar@fdamap.com
​ Linkedin: Mukesh Kumar, PhD, RAC
 Instagram: mukeshkumarrac 
                           Twitter: @FDA_MAP
                           Youtube: MukeshKumarFDAMap

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