1901P - State of supportive care in oncology 2024: Tumor types, industry support, endpoints, and trial locations

Background

Recent social media posts have suggested that there is waning interest in supportive care in the field of oncology in comparision to the development of therapeutics. We sought to assess the state of supportive care clinical trials in comparision to therapeutic clinical trials (chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy) and other basic science trials (e.g., biomarker).

Methods

We searched for active, ongoing clinical trials using ClinicalTrials.gov using the keyword “supportive care” in combination with “cancer” on January 1, 2024. In addition, we used the keywords “chemotherapy,” “immunotherapy,” “targeted therapy,” and “biomarker.” We included trials with clinical endpoints and collected data including tumor type, intervention, industry sponsorship, and country of origin. We excluded “supportive care” trials with recruitment or accrual primary endpoints, as well as misclassified “supportive care” trials evaluating therapeutics.

Results

A total of 724 "supportive care” clincial trials were identified, of which 508 were omitted due to exclusion criteria. Among the 216 supportive care clinical trials, the most common tumor types studied were: advanced cancer (24%), breast (18.9%), gastrointestinal (11.6%) and genitourinary (10.6%). Industry rarely sponsored trials, with only 3 (1.4%) identified. The most common interventions were: mobile/online application (9.3%), exercise/fitness (9.3%), dietary/nutrition intervention (7.9%), behavioral/cognitive (5.6%) and peer support (4.2%). Most supportive care trials were randomized (81%) followed by single-arm studies (13.9%). Quality of life (14.4%) was the most common primary endpoint, followed by depression/anxiety (6.9%), FACT score (6.0%), symptoms (5.1%), and physical activity (4.2%). Most trials are taking place in the United States (52.3%) followed by France (9.3%), Canada (6.9%), Taiwan (4.2%), and Spain (3.2%).

Conclusions

A review of ClinicalTrials.gov reveals that slightly over 200 supportive care clincial trials are ongoing through the world, primarily in the United States. Industry sponsors rarely fund supportive care trials. Most supportive care trials were randomized, and are evaluating quality of life or anxiety/depression.

Clinical trial identification

Editorial acknowledgement

Legal entity responsible for the study

The authors.

Funding

Has not received any funding.

Disclosure

D.J. Benjamin: Financial Interests, Personal, Advisory Board: Astellas, Eisai; Financial Interests, Personal, Speaker, Consultant, Advisor: Seagen; Financial Interests, Personal, Speaker’s Bureau: Merck; Financial Interests, Personal, Other: Merck. A. Rezazadeh Kalebasty: Financial Interests, Personal, Advisory Board, advisory board and speaker: Exelixis, Bayer, Pfizer, Genentech, EMD Serono; Financial Interests, Personal, Advisory Board, speaker and advisory board: AstraZeneca, Novartis, BMS; Financial Interests, Personal, Invited Speaker: Janssen, Astellas Medivation, Pfizer, Novartis, Genentech/Roche, Eisai, AstraZeneca, BMS, Amgen, Exelixis, EMD Serono, Merck, Seattle Genetics/ Astellas, Myovant, Gilead Sciences; Financial Interests, Personal, Advisory Board: Gilead Sciences; Financial Interests, Institutional, Local PI: Genentech, Exelixis, Janssen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, BMS, Eisai, Macrogenics, Astellas, Beyond Spring, Bioclin Therapeutics, Clovis Oncology, Bavarian Nordic, Seattle Genetics, Immunomedics, Epizy, Arnivas, Navire, Point biopharma, Novartis.