Increasingly, tumors are defined on a molecular basis rather than only on histology, and targeted agents, which address these molecular subtypes, are being approved. This profusion of molecular subtypes creates "rare" diseases as subsets of common cancers, leading to difficulties in enrolling sufficiently large cohorts for confirmatory trials. However, if the molecular subtype is shared across various histologies, these may be pooled into a basket trial. To date, basket trials have been primarily for exploratory early development. In this perspective, we consider qualitative designs for confirmatory basket trials. These confirmatory basket designs will provide patients in niche indications with enhanced access to novel therapies, facilitate development and full approval for niche indications, allow accelerated approval for indications within a basket based on a surrogate endpoint, reduce development cost by combining trials, and enhance the ability of regulatory authorities to evaluate risk and benefit in niche indications.
Second-line oral topotecan administered at 2.3 mg/m2 for 5 days every 21 days demonstrated activity in patients with progressive or recurrent ovarian cancer after first-line platinum-based chemotherapy. This activity was comparable to that seen in previous studies with intravenous topotecan. Grade 4 neutropenia was less frequent with oral topotecan than previously reported for intravenous topotecan. Oral topotecan is an active, tolerable, and convenient formulation of an established agent for the second-line treatment of advanced epithelial ovarian cancer and may also facilitate exploring prolonged treatment schedules.
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