Landscape of Oncology Clinical Trials in Africa

Abstract

<jats:sec><jats:title>PURPOSE</jats:title><jats:p> The burden of cancer in Africa is of significant concern for several reasons, including that incidence of cancer in Africa continues to rise while Africa is also dealing with communicable diseases. To combat cancer in Africa, oncology clinical trials are needed to develop innovative interventions for cancer prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of clinical trials in Africa and it is difficult for African clinicians to get information on open oncology clinical trials and impossible for African patients with cancer to access this information. The primary objective of this study was to identify open oncology clinical trials in Africa. </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>METHODS</jats:title><jats:p> This project was part of a large-scale study to develop an African Virtual Platform for Oncology Clinical Trials Registry. The study was a quantitative, web-based, retrospective review of clinical trials registries. </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>RESULTS</jats:title><jats:p> A total of 109 open oncology clinical trials were identified. Most of the trials were in Egypt, South Africa, Algeria, and Kenya. The top cancer types for oncology clinical trials in Africa were breast, cervical, and lung cancers. The top sponsor of oncology clinical trials in Africa was academic institutions, especially institutions in the United States. </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>CONCLUSION</jats:title><jats:p> The paucity of clinical trials in Africa will continue to magnify the global disparities of cancer in the African population. Clinical trials are needed to ensure therapeutic interventions are safe and effective in the African population. In the era of personalized and precision health, it no longer suffices to assume that drugs developed in North America, Europe, or Asia will be effective in the African population. </jats:p></jats:sec>

Linking market authorizations of medicines with disease burden in South Africa

“…South Africa is almost never in the first wave of countries in which companies seek registration for new medicines. However, South Africa is an active participant in international clinical trials on new treatments that are being developed for some of the top diseases that represent a high burden of disease in the country such as HIV/ AIDS and cancer [19,20]. Even so many of the treatments tested on patients during clinical trials conducted in South Africa do not eventually get registered in the country [21].…”

Oncology Clinical Trials in Africa: Emerging and Operational Issues

“…What are the common cancer types included oncology clinical trials in Africa? These are the questions that Odedina et al 8 answer in this series. A quantitative, Web-based, retrospective review of clinical trials registries was conducted to develop the landscape of oncology clinical trials in Africa.…”

Unseen and unheard: African children with cancer are consistently excluded from clinical trials

“…Cancer in Africa has been described as a runaway train as it now kills more Africans than malaria. 1 2 There are an estimated 1 million new cases of cancer on the continent every year and this is expected to double by 2030. 3 Cancer in Africa is characterised by high mortality and the disparity between mortality rates in Africa and high-income countries (HIC) is most striking for childhood cancers with mortality rates as high as 80% compared with 20% in HICs like the USA and Canada.…”

“…A review of cancer clinical trials in Africa found that only 20 of 54 African countries surveyed hosted clinical trials with the majority in four countries: Egypt, South Africa, Algeria and Kenya. 1 Only 109 cancer clinical trials were being conducted in Africa with a population of 1.2 billion people compared with over 6800 in the USA with a population of 328 million. 15 Regrettably, the exclusion of African participants from the majority of clinical trials means that a large proportion of paediatric patients with cancer are not represented in the very research efforts aimed at combating these diseases.…”

“…Currently, most ongoing cancer clinical trials in Africa are funded by academic institutions and pharmaceutical companies based in the USA, Switzerland and Egypt. 1 The top sponsor is Hoffmann-La Roche, a Swiss pharmaceutical company. However, it is likely that very few of these clinical trials focus BMJ Global Health on childhood cancers as the top cancers studied are breast, cervical, lung and gastrointestinal.…”