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On August 13, 2021, the FDA approved belzutifan (WELIREG, Merck), a first-in-class hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) inhibitor for adult patients with von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease who require therapy for associated renal cell carcinoma (RCC), central nervous system (CNS) hemangioblastomas, or pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNET), not requiring immediate surgery. The FDA granted approval based on the clinically meaningful effects on overall response rate (ORR) observed in patients enrolled in Study MK-6482-004. All 61 patients had VHL-associated RCC; some also had CNS hemangioblastomas and/or pNET. For VHL disease–associated RCC, ORR was 49% [95% confidence interval (CI), 36–62], median duration of response (DoR) was not reached, 56% of responders had DoR ≥12 months, and median time to response was 8 months. Twenty-four patients had measurable CNS hemangioblastomas with an ORR of 63% (95% CI, 41–81), and 12 patients had measurable pNET with an ORR of 83% (95% CI, 52–98). For these tumors, median DoR was not reached, with 73% and 50% of patients having response durations ≥12 months for CNS hemangioblastomas and pNET, respectively. The most common adverse reactions, including laboratory abnormalities, reported in ≥20% were anemia, fatigue, increased creatinine, headache, dizziness, increased glucose, and nausea. Belzutifan can render some hormonal contraceptives ineffective and can cause embryo-fetal harm during pregnancy. This article summarizes the data and the FDA thought process supporting traditional approval of belzutifan for this indication.

On November 14, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx for treatment of adult patients with folate receptor-α (FRα)-positive, platinum-resistant epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer who have received one to three prior systemic therapies. The VENTANA FOLR1 (FOLR-2.1) RxDx Assay was approved as a companion diagnostic device to select patients for this indication. Approval was based on Study 0417 (SORAYA, NCT04296890), a single-arm, multicenter trial. In 104 patients with measurable disease who received mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx, the overall response rate was 31.7% (95% CI: 22.9, 41.6) with a median duration of response of 6.9 months (95% CI: 5.6, 9.7). Ocular toxicity was included as a Boxed Warning in the U.S. Prescribing Information (USPI) to alert providers of the risks of developing severe ocular toxicity including vision impairment and corneal disorders. Pneumonitis and peripheral neuropathy were additional important safety risks included as Warnings and Precautions in the USPI. This is the first approval of a targeted therapy for FRα-positive, platinum-resistant ovarian cancer and the first antibody-drug conjugate approved for ovarian cancer. This article summarizes the favorable benefit-risk assessment leading to FDA’s approval of mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx.

Supplementary Table 1 shows adverse reactions occurring at a frequency of 10% or higher in patients with SCLC who received lurbinectedin in Study B-005. Supplementary Table 2 shows select laboratory abnormalities as worsening from baseline and occurring at a rate of 20% or higher in patients with SCLC who received lurbinectedin in Study B-005.

On June 15, 2020, the FDA granted accelerated approval to lurbinectedin for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic small cell lung cancer (SCLC) with disease progression on or after platinum-based chemotherapy. Approval was granted on the basis of the clinically meaningful effects on overall response rate (ORR) and duration of response (DOR), and the safety profile observed in a multicenter, open-label, multicohort clinical trial (PM1183-B-005-14, NCT02454972), referred to as Study B-005, in patients with advanced solid tumors. The trial included a cohort of 105 patients with metastatic SCLC who had disease progression on or after platinum-based chemotherapy. The confirmed ORR determined by investigator assessment using RECIST 1.1 in the approved SCLC patient population was 35% [95% confidence interval (CI): 26–45], with a median DOR of 5.3 (95% CI: 4.1–6.4) months. The drug label includes warnings and precautions for myelosuppression, hepatotoxicity, and embryo-fetal toxicity. This is the first drug approved by the FDA in over 20 years in the second line for patients with metastatic SCLC. Importantly, this approval includes an indication for patients who have platinum-resistant disease, representing an area of particular unmet need.

On June 15, 2020, the FDA granted accelerated approval to lurbinectedin for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic small cell lung cancer (SCLC) with disease progression on or after platinum-based chemotherapy. Approval was granted on the basis of the clinically meaningful effects on overall response rate (ORR) and duration of response (DOR), and the safety profile observed in a multicenter, open-label, multicohort clinical trial (PM1183-B-005-14, NCT02454972), referred to as Study B-005, in patients with advanced solid tumors. The trial included a cohort of 105 patients with metastatic SCLC who had disease progression on or after platinum-based chemotherapy. The confirmed ORR determined by investigator assessment using RECIST 1.1 in the approved SCLC patient population was 35% [95% confidence interval (CI): 26–45], with a median DOR of 5.3 (95% CI: 4.1–6.4) months. The drug label includes warnings and precautions for myelosuppression, hepatotoxicity, and embryo-fetal toxicity. This is the first drug approved by the FDA in over 20 years in the second line for patients with metastatic SCLC. Importantly, this approval includes an indication for patients who have platinum-resistant disease, representing an area of particular unmet need.

The development of modified-release (MR) drug products aims to address a clinical need such as improving patient compliance. There are multiple pathways and development strategies for the registration and approval of MR products. The development strategy of an MR product is usually dependent on the availability and pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) characteristics of the reference drug product, that is, an immediate-release (IR) product or a reference MR. Compared with a reference IR product, an MR product is likely to have a different PK profile over the least common dosing time due to unequal dosing intervals. In case of differences in PK profiles between the MR product and the reference product, confirmatory efficacy and safety studies may be needed to support registration. In some cases, however, a thorough clinical PK/PD characterization may provide sufficient basis to support the approval of the proposed MR product without the need for additional safety and efficacy studies. This article summarizes the US Food and Drug Administration experience and the regulatory considerations supporting the approval of MR products in the past 6 years and discusses cases in which clinical pharmacology and PK/PD information were leveraged to support approval without the need for additional clinical studies. Details of all these cases are available in the public domain. In 2 cases a well-characterized exposure-response relationship provided sufficient justification that differences in the shape of the PK profiles were not clinically relevant. In the remaining 3 cases a thorough characterization of the PK profile along with a risk-based approach provided bases for approval.

On April 22, 2020, the FDA granted accelerated approval to sacituzumab govitecan-hziy (TRODELVY; Immunomedics, Inc.) for the treatment of patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (mTNBC) who have received at least two prior therapies for metastatic disease. Approval was based on data from the IMMU-132-01 trial, a single-arm, multicohort, multicenter, phase I/II trial of sacituzumab govitecan. The assessment of efficacy was based on 108 patients with mTNBC who had previously received at least two prior lines of therapy in the metastatic setting and who received sacituzumab govitecan 10 mg/kg i.v. The assessment of safety was based on 408 patients with advanced solid tumors who had received sacituzumab govitecan at doses up to 10 mg/kg i.v. The primary efficacy endpoint was investigator-assessed objective response rate (ORR) and duration of response (DoR) was a key secondary endpoint. The ORR was 33.3% [36/108; 95% confidence interval (CI), 24.6–43.1], and median DoR among responders was 7.7 months (95% CI, 4.9–10.8). The most common adverse reactions occurring in ≥25% of patients were nausea, neutropenia, diarrhea, fatigue, anemia, vomiting, alopecia, constipation, rash, decreased appetite, and abdominal pain. This article summarizes the FDA review process and data supporting the approval of sacituzumab govitecan.

Drug interactions due to efflux transporters may result in one drug increasing or decreasing the systemic exposure of a second drug. The potential for in vivo drug interactions is estimated through in vitro cell assays. Variability in in vitro parameter determination (e.g., IC50 values) among laboratories may lead to different conclusions in in vivo interaction predictions. The objective of this study was to investigate variability in in vitro inhibition potency determination that may be due to calculation methods. In a Caco-2 cell assay, the absorptive and secretive permeability of digoxin was measured in the presence of spironolactone, itraconazole and vardenafil. From the permeability data, the efflux ratio and net secretory flux where calculated for each inhibitor. IC50 values were then calculated using a variety of equations and software programs. All three drugs decreased the secretory transport of digoxin in a concentration-dependent manner while increasing digoxin’s absorption to a lesser extent. The resulting IC50 values varied according to the parameter evaluated, whether percent inhibition or percent control was applied, and the computational IC50 equation. This study has shown that multiple methods used to quantitate the inhibition of drug efflux in a cell assay can result in different IC50 values. The variability in the results in this study points to a need to standardize any transporter assay and calculation methods within a laboratory and to validate the assay with a set of known inhibitors and non-inhibitors against a clinically relevant substrate.

Concentration response experiments are utilized widely to characterize the response of tumor cell lines to chemotherapeutic drugs, but the assay methods are non-standardized and their analysis based on phenomenological equations. To provide a framework for better interpretation of these experiments, we have developed a mathematical model in which progression through the tumor cell cycle is inhibited by drug treatment via either cell cycle arrest or entrance into cell death pathways. By fitting concentration response data, preferably over a dynamic range, the contributions of these mechanisms can be delineated. The model was shown to fit well experimental data for three glioma cell lines treated with either carmustine or etoposide. In each cell line, the major mechanism of tumor cell inhibition was cell death for carmustine in contrast to cell cycle arrest for etoposide. The model also provides a possible interpretation for the acquired in vitro resistance of U87 cells to carmustine as an accelerated desensitization to cell killing effects. This approach will aid in understanding better the action of chemotherapeutic agents on tumor cells.

Drug interactions due to efflux transporters may result in one drug increasing or decreasing the systemic exposure of a second drug. The potential for in vivo drug interactions is estimated through in vitro cell assays. Variability in in vitro parameter determination (e.g., IC50 values) among laboratories may lead to different conclusions in in vivo interaction predictions. The objective of this study was to investigate variability in in vitro inhibition potency determination that may be due to calculation methods. In a Caco-2 cell assay, the absorptive and secretive permeability of digoxin was measured in the presence of spironolactone, itraconazole and vardenafil. From the permeability data, the efflux ratio and net secretory flux where calculated for each inhibitor. IC50 values were then calculated using a variety of equations and software programs. All three drugs decreased the secretory transport of digoxin in a concentration-dependent manner while increasing digoxin’s absorption to a lesser extent. The resulting IC50 values varied according to the parameter evaluated, whether percent inhibition or percent control was applied, and the computational IC50 equation. This study has shown that multiple methods used to quantitate the inhibition of drug efflux in a cell assay can result in different IC50 values. The variability in the results in this study points to a need to standardize any transporter assay and calculation methods within a laboratory and to validate the assay with a set of known inhibitors and non-inhibitors against a clinically relevant substrate.

The standard of care for treating patients with pancreatic adenocarcinomas includes gemcitabine (2',2'-difluorodeoxycytidine). Gemcitabine primarily elicits its response by stalling the DNA replication forks of cells in the S phase of the cell cycle. To provide a quantitative framework for characterizing the cell cycle and apoptotic effects of gemcitabine, we developed a pharmacodynamic model in which the activation of cell cycle checkpoints or cell death is dependent on gemcitabine exposure.Three pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell lines (AsPC-1, BxPC-3, and MiaPaca-2) were exposed to varying concentrations (0-100,000 ng/mL) of gemcitabine over a period of 96 h in order to quantify proliferation kinetics and cell distributions among the cell cycle phases. The model assumes that the drug can inhibit cycle-phase transitioning in each of the 3 phases (G1, S, and G2/M) and can cause apoptosis of cells in G1 and G2/M phases. Fitting was performed using the ADAPT5 program.The time course of gemcitabine effects was well described by the model, and parameters were estimated with good precision. Model predictions and experimental data show that gemcitabine induces cell cycle arrest in the S phase at low concentrations, whereas higher concentrations induce arrest in all cell cycle phases. Furthermore, apoptotic effects of gemcitabine appear to be minimal and take place at later time points.The pharmacodynamic model developed provides a quantitative, mechanistic interpretation of gemcitabine efficacy in 3 pancreatic cancer cell lines, and provides useful insights for rational selection of chemotherapeutic agents for combination therapy.