An analysis of growth patterns of targeted therapies (TTs) using keywords from ASCO annual meeting abstracts.

Abstract

e18084 Background: The number of TTs approved to treat cancer patients has increased dramatically in the past decades. We analyzed how frequently 27 oncology targets (and associated therapies) appeared in ASCO meeting abstracts since 2005 to explore if future drug development patterns could be predicted. Methods: We obtained abstracts from the ASCO Center for Research & Analytics. We used keyword abstraction to calculate the percentage of abstracts referencing 27 specific target/drug combinations each year, and we categorized them into high (HV), medium (MV), and low volume (LV) groups based on percentage in 2018. Results: Table shows data since 2012 for the HV group. The percentages of MV (BCR/ABL, CDK4/6, CD20, MEK, CTLA4, iMID, PARP, PI3K, proteasome inhibitors) and LV (BCL2, BTK, CD19, CD30, CD38, HDAC, IDH1, IDH2, and NTRK) in 2018 were less than 1.7%. The HV group was associated with more FDA-approved therapies (41) than the MV (23) and LV (13) groups. The HV and MV groups are likely enriched for more mature targets, as the median date of relevant drug approvals is earlier (11/2012 and 4/2013, respectively) than the LV group (4/2016). Growth patterns are consistent with key regulatory milestones. The number of abstracts with PD-1/PD-L1-related keywords has grown more rapidly than any other drug/target combination. This growth begins soon before FDA approvals for a diversity of relevant indications. Continued growth likely reflects ongoing clinical trials of several other PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors and combinations. We identified similar growth trends for other targets just prior to key regulatory approvals. Conclusions: Our analysis revealed interesting growth patterns for key oncology target/drug combinations. Future work will explore whether we can extend the analysis to help predict the evolution of development programs for new targets. [Table: see text]