Rise of personalized drugs means fewer 'dinosaur' trials

Now that targeted therapies like Roche's ($RHHBY) Zelboraf and Bayer's Stivarga have raced through the FDA and into patients' hands, drug developers are relying less and less on old-fashioned randomized controlled trials. As researchers told Reuters, if you're testing a drug you know only affects patients with, say, certain VEGF mutations, why waste time with "dinosaur" trials involving people who almost surely won't benefit? The FDA is so far all aboard with the single-arm revolution, fast-tracking personalized drugs left and right. However, as drugmakers chart quicker--and thus cheaper--paths through development, the market has yet to see a mirrored effect on drug pricing. More