Laboratory Considerations for Clinical Trials

Dr. Patrice Hugo, Chief Scientific Advisor at Q² Solutions discusses the selection and use of biomarkers in Immuno-oncology trials and the importance of early engagement between sponsors and clinical trial partners.

We are seeing that too often, in early phase clinical trials, drug developers for immuno-oncology investigation of products are considering bio-markers as true CDx or companion diagnostics; when in fact, they aim at producing information at a later stage, evaluating the potential of these bio-markers to be of CDx. At times the confusion here is adding a lot of pressure to the clinical labs to validate the assays to a level of stringency that is not necessarily required at that early stage. It also adds to the cost and complexity of the study. For bio-markers that are not considered as companion diagnostics, one of the main problems is how the data is generated, and how it's going to be used by the sponsor to support their drug development.

Dr. Hugo explains the importance of the results generated from candidate companion diagnostic markers,  the relationship with IVD manufacturers that are developing CDx and the global regulatory environment.