As the complexity in the majority of therapeutic areas increases, oncology trials are dragging behind due to various challenges arising. There is rising fierce competition for the various resources needed for oncology research. During the last decade, the growth of oncology drugs doubled compared to any other therapeutic area. Due to their nature, Veristat oncology clinical trial design takes a lot of time to have a breakthrough and that comes with its challenges. Here we are going to discuss some of the challenges in oncology trials and drug development.
Little scientific knowledge
In the clinical trials and research sector, there’s a lot of new and upcoming therapies which are yet to reveal their full extent in terms of how powerful they can become. This makes it difficult to make predictions, thus lowering both safety and efficiency during clinical trial planning. Lack of this crucial data also makes it difficult to get sponsors to cover that crucial funding for various research and development advancements.
Long and slow recruitment procedures
The long and slow patient recruitment process in various clinical trials is due to set guidelines. Safety in any given area is crucial for trial development since one has to put into consideration various aspects of the candidates. These include eligibility and background checks, which are very time-consuming. This is by far one of the biggest challenges when it comes to oncology trials and drug development.
Traveling inconveniences
Various oncology trials bring sets of different individuals together. Even then, many trips to the clinical trial locations are tiresome and some are expensive when longer distances are involved. The most affected ones in this instance are the patients since they cover most of their travel costs. To make matters worse, some patients will give up midway thus affecting your oncological trial results negatively.
Uneasy patients
Medications in trial phases come with a lot of concerns. Since some things are not best understood such as side effects, it gives some patients uneasiness. Various studies have shown that a bigger percentage of patients are fearful of being prescribed drugs with short track records. Others will skip the first phases due to concerns about deteriorating their health. Since patient health is given the topmost priority, early phase mediations have to undergo evaluations. Even after successful evaluations, some patients will still be skeptical about them.
Tough evaluations for new medicines
All clinical drugs are made to either prolong or improve a patient’s life and quality. These medications thus have to be evaluated and their impacts on patients are made known. Like any other evaluation, this one too is time-consuming. This greatly affects medications in trial stages. This occurs mainly because there’s too much medication being made and the waiting line for respective trial medications grows by the day. As a result, it increases the follow-up time and that hinders most of drug developments. It’s also important to note that these medical evaluations are not free. Some of them are very expensive depending on what substances they contain.
Oncology trials are not easy to carry out as a lot is involved. Above are some of the challenges you’re likely to encounter in your quest for new drug research.