Possible impacts of new cancer drugs need to be cataloged, Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Immune checkpoint inhibitors are cancer drugs that for many have been a lifeline. Yet they are associated with a range of reactions that really need to be cataloged so they’re easier to recognize, some experts argue. Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center director William Nelson agrees.

Nelson: Now what happens is people may get the immune checkpoint inhibitors for a year. The immune breakthrough events are quite varied and when it appears, how severe it is and how it responds to attempts to treat it, we need a more systematic way to catalog the natural history. There was about overall about a two to four fold increase if you got the immune checkpoint inhibitor versus if you didn't you get other cancer treatment of these kinds of adverse events. That's a significant problem. Cataloging them beyond what we normally measure in clinical trials I think it's a good idea.    :34

Nelson says such a systematic look will also validate management and treatment. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.