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Is There an Age Threshold for Holding Off on Testing Novel Therapies?

  • Palliative Medicine (A Jatoi, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Oncology Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

We will review the reasons that explain the poor accrual of elderly patients to clinical trials, then we will discuss the relevance of an age threshold for holding off on testing novel therapies.

Recent Findings

Little progress has been made in enrolling elderly patients in clinical trials.

Summary

Reasons to hold off on testing novel therapies in elderly patients are mainly explained by exclusion criteria and industrials’ reluctance to include elderly patients for fear of negative results. No age threshold should exist for testing novel therapies as long as well-designed clinical trials are developed and requested by regulatory authorities. Furthermore, clinical trials assessing novel anticancer therapies such as targeted therapies or immune checkpoint inhibitors should be developed in elderly patients regardless of age as these therapies may present a favorable benefit-risk profile compared to chemotherapy which is often more toxic and at risk of geriatric deconditioning.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oncology Department, Centre Hospitalier Lyon Sud, 165 chemin du grand Revoyet, 69495, Pierre-Bénite, France

    Olivia Le Saux

  2. Geriatric Oncology Department, Centre Hospitalier Lyon Sud, 165 chemin du grand Revoyet, 69495, Pierre-Bénite, France

    Claire Falandry

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  1. Olivia Le Saux
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  2. Claire Falandry
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Correspondence to Olivia Le Saux.

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Olivia Le Saux declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Claire Falandry has received research support through grants from Novartis, Pfizer/Hospira, Chugai, Astellas, and Pierre Fabre, and has received compensation from Roche, Teva, Pfizer/Hospira, Chugai, Janssen, and Astellas for service as a consultant.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Le Saux, O., Falandry, C. Is There an Age Threshold for Holding Off on Testing Novel Therapies?. Curr Oncol Rep 20, 6 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11912-018-0663-4

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