NCI Study Indicates Need For Comparative Trials, Editorial Says

Main Category: Clinical Trials / Drug Trials
Article Date: 24 Apr 2006 - 12:00 PDT

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The federal government and pharmaceutical companies "ought to sponsor more ... comparative studies" of treatments, such as the recent "head-to-head clinical comparison" of the bone thinner raloxifene and the breast cancer medication tamoxifen, a New York Times editorial says (New York Times, 4/19). Initial results of the study, released on Monday by the National Cancer Institute, indicate that raloxifene is as effective as tamoxifen in the reduction of breast cancer risk for postmenopausal women at an increased risk for the disease and is less likely to cause serious complications (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 4/18). "Typically in this country, a drug is approved for marketing based on comparison with a placebo in clinical trials," but the NCI study "reinforces accumulating evidence that the most meaningful data [are] derived from comparing one drug with another," the editorial says. The results of the NCI study have "been hailed by some experts as a major advance in the war against cancer and by other experts as a more mixed result whose value is not yet clear," the editorial says, adding, "Either way, it is good news that women may soon have two drugs to choose from" (New York Times, 4/19).

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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