Racial composition in trials supporting the U.S. approval of anti-cancer new molecular entities (NMEs): 2011- 2016.

Abstract

6518 Background: In New Drug- and Biologics License Applications, clinical trials provide the primary safety and efficacy data upon which approval decisions are made. Low numbers of patients from racial groups that experience higher incidence and/or mortality from some cancers compared to the overall US population, may limit the generalizability of trial results. The Census estimates that the US population is 77.1%White, 13.3% Black/ African American (AA), 5.6% Asian, 1.2% American Indian/ Alaska Native (AIAN), and 0.2% Native Hawaiian/ Other Pacific Islander (NHPI). FDA conducted an analysis to compare the racial composition in trials supporting the approval of NMEs for the treatment of solid tumor malignancies. Methods: We reviewed the marketing applications of the 33 NMEs approved between 2011- 2016 to identify trials that provided the primary evidence of safety and efficacy. Results: A total of 29941 patients were enrolled. The table below illustrates enrollment by race (excluding Non-Hispanic, Hispanic, Other, Mixed Race & Missing) and approval year. Conclusions: The proportion of White patients enrolled in the US (88%) is higher than the proportion of Whites in the US population. However, the enrollment of AA and NHPI/AIAN patients is low and below the proportional representation of AA and NHPI/AIAN in the US. While enrollment targets may differ across cancer type and by race, the racial composition of patients enrolled in the trials that support the approval of cancer therapeutics should be reflective of the likely US patient population for whom these agents will be prescribed. The majority of Asian patients enrolled were from RoW while the majority of AA and NHPI/AIAN patients were enrolled from the US. Increasing the representation of racial minority patients in oncology trials will require targeted recruitment and enrollment of these patients in US sites. [Table: see text]