Cancer Drug Endpoints: ctDNA Promising But Presents Many Challenges, Experts Say

To validate change in circulating tumor DNA as an early endpoint predictive of longer-term outcomes, academia, industry and regulators must harmonize data collection for trials in early-stage disease, a Friends of Cancer Research white paper states.

Long road
The road to establishing ctDNA as predictive of long-term outcomes in early-stage disease is a long one. • Source: Alamy

Circulating tumor DNA potentially could serve as an early endpoint in cancer clinical trials, but academia, industry, regulators and the patient community will have to work together in overcoming numerous technical and clinical challenges to establish the biomarker’s utility in drug development, experts said.

In a white paper and panel discussion at the Friends of Cancer Research’s recent annual meeting, stakeholders highlighted the promise of using ctDNA level changes to assess treatment...

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