Oncotarget: A comprehensive analysis of clinical trials in pancreatic cancer

 The cover for issue 38 of Oncotarget features Figure 3, "Summary of the time and cost for drug development (modified from DiMasi et al [2016]," by Katayama, et al. which reported that Pancreatic cancer is the most aggressive common cancer and is desperately in need of novel therapies.

In this study, the Oncotarget authors perform the first comprehensive analysis of the current clinical trial landscape in pancreatic cancer to better understand the pipeline of new therapies.

In this study, the Oncotarget authors perform the first comprehensive analysis of the current clinical trial landscape in pancreatic cancer to better understand the pipeline of new therapies.

Studies were curated and categorized according to the phase of the study, the clinical stage of the study population, type of intervention under investigation, and biologic mechanism targeted by the therapy under study.

As of May 18, 2019, there were 430 total active therapeutic interventional trials testing 590 interventions.

The vast minority of trials are in phase III testing. 189 interventions are immunotherapies, 69 target cell signaling pathways, 154 target cell cycle or DNA biology, and 35 target metabolic pathways.

Dr. Jordan M. Winter from The Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine as well as The University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center said, "Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the most aggressive of the common cancers."

The institute allocates roughly $6 billion annually to cancer research, and just over $100 million is dedicated to studying pancreatic cancer.

Other agencies and organizations like the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, American Cancer Society, and the Department of Defense contribute significantly to this mission, likely adding more than $20 million per year in totality.