Segment 8 - Overall Survival and Ongoing Combination Clinical Trials

While it would be nice to think that one and only one therapy would be effective at combatting cancer, combination therapy is needed, Kimberly Shafer-Weaver, PhD, said.

While Jianda Yuan, MD, PhD, believes combination therapy is the future, he said clinical trials need to be designed carefully, and Dr Shafer-Weaver added that response rates are very patient specific.

“From a physician standpoint or from a payer standpoint, you need to think about, you know, are you going to spend these hundreds of thousands of dollars per patient that might not respond and then on top of it, you know, add another 1 or 2 biologics?” she said.