Biomarker use is associated with reduced clinical trial failure risk in metastatic melanoma

The complexity of modern medicine sometimes makes it difficult to know if drug treatments are doing their intended job. MBioTech students Daniel Rubinger and Sarah Hollman (advisor Jayson Parker) took this problem head on in their recent paper “Biomarker use is associated with reduced clinical trial failure risk in metastatic melanoma” published in Biomarkers in Medicine. Dan and Sarah looked at how new drugs are tested in melanoma and traced them through various stages of clinical trial testing between 1998 and 2013. They compared drugs that used a biomarker (e.g. “personalized medicine” if you will) versus drugs that did not use a biomarker, in identifying patients who will be treated with the drug in question for the disease. Their review revealed a trend of substantial benefit of biomarker use in this disease area, which showed about a 5-fold increase in success rates relative to drugs that did not use a biomarker. This study reinforces the message of how important biomarker use is in clinical research, even if it is perceived to reduce the eligible patient population for therapy by industry.

Congratulations Daniel and Sarah on this exciting review and good luck in your new endeavours!