The 21St Century Cures Act — Will It Take Us Back in Time? Jerry Avorn, M.D., and Aaron S
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The NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL of MEDICINE Perspective The 21st Century Cures Act — Will It Take Us Back in Time? Jerry Avorn, M.D., and Aaron S. Kesselheim, M.D., J.D., M.P.H. n May 2015, the 21st Century Cures Act was intro- tem. An underlying premise of duced in the U.S. House of Representatives, with the bill is the need to accelerate I approval for new products, but the goal of promoting the development and speeding this process is already quite effi- the approval of new drugs and devices.1 Championed cient. A third of new drugs are currently approved on the basis by the pharmaceutical, biotech- provide an additional $2 billion of a single pivotal trial; the me- nology, and device industries, the per year for 5 years to create an dian size for all pivotal trials is bill was approved unanimously “NIH Innovation Fund.” Together, just 760 patients. More than two (51 to 0) in committee and con- this support would help counter- thirds of new drugs are approved tinues to be debated. If enacted act the effects of sequestration on the basis of studies lasting into law, some of its provisions and budget cuts that have re- 6 months or less3 — a potential could have a profound effect on duced the purchasing power of problem for medications de- what is known about the safety the NIH to its lowest level in signed to be taken for a lifetime. and efficacy of medical products, years. Given the crucial role that Once the Food and Drug Admin- as well as which ones become NIH-funded research plays in istration (FDA) starts its review, it available for use. generating the findings on which approves new medications about Some aspects of the bill could so many new drugs are based,2 as quickly as any regulatory indeed enhance the development this boost would be a welcome agency in the world, evaluating of and access to new drugs. The development. Another useful pro- nearly all new drug applications legislation calls for annual in- vision could make deidentified within 6 to 10 months, an im- creases in the stagnating budget data from NIH-funded clinical tri- pressive turnaround for such for the National Institutes of als more available to researchers. complex assessments. Health (NIH) amounting to about Other proposed changes could Nonetheless, as introduced, the 3% per year for 3 years when ad- lead to less salutary outcomes for 21st Century Cures Act instructs justed for inflation. It would also patients and the health care sys- the FDA to consider nontraditional n engl j med nejm.org 1 The New England Journal of Medicine Downloaded from nejm.org at PARTNERS HEALTHCARE on June 3, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved. PERSPECTIVE The 21st Century Cures Act study designs and methods of even as it increased their risk of proven antibiotics, which could data analysis to further speed myocardial infarction. In 2013, encourage their more widespread approvals. Adaptive trial designs patients began to receive a new use. The bill gives the secretary and the use of Bayesian methods drug for tuberculosis approved of health and human services the hold promise in some kinds of on the basis of a randomized authority to expand this nontradi- evaluations, particularly in oncol- trial relying on a surrogate mea- tional approval pathway to other ogy. However, more problematic sure of bacterial counts in the drug categories as well, if “the proposals include encouraging sputum — even though patients public health would benefit from the use of “shorter or smaller given the drug in that trial had a expansion.” clinical trials” for devices and death rate four times that in the The 21st Century Cures Act the request that the FDA develop comparison group, mostly from goes still further in altering the criteria for relying on “evidence tuberculosis.4 These provisions in requirements for approving med- from clinical experience,” includ- the legislation would not imme- ical devices — an area long criti- ing “observational studies, regis- diately change FDA approval stan- cized for lack of rigor as com- tries, and therapeutic use” instead dards, but they would give the pared with drug evaluations,5 of randomized, controlled trials agency greater discretion, backed though regulatory oversight has for approving new uses for exist- by congressional support, to ap- improved in recent years. As pro- ing drugs. Although such data prove drugs on the basis of less posed, the new law would re- can provide important informa- rigorous data. define the evidence on which tion about drug utilization and The proposed legislation would high-risk devices can be approved safety once a medication is in use, make immediate changes with to include case studies, registries, there is considerable evidence that respect to new antibiotics and and articles in the medical litera- these approaches are not as rigor- antifungals by enabling their ap- ture, rather than more rigorous ous or valid as randomized trials proval without conventional clin- clinical trials. Another section in assessing efficacy. ical trials, if needed to treat a would allow device makers to The bill would also encourage “serious or life-threatening infec- pay a third-party organization to the FDA to rely more on bio- tion” in patients with an “unmet determine whether the manufac- markers and other surrogate mea- medical need.” In place of proof turer can be relied on to assess sures rather than actual clinical that the antimicrobial actually the safety and effectiveness of end points in assessing the effi- decreases morbidity or mortality, changes it makes to its devices, cacy of both drugs and devices. the FDA would be empowered in place of submitting an appli- The FDA already uses surrogate to accept nontraditional efficacy cation to the FDA. Thus certified end points in about half of new measures drawn from small stud- by the external company, a de- drug approvals.3 Some biomark- ies as well as “preclinical, phar- vice maker would be authorized ers are accurate predictors of macologic, or pathophysiologic to continue to assess its own disease risk and can be useful evidence; nonclinical suscepti- products on an ongoing basis. measures of the efficacy of a bility and pharmacokinetic data, Informed consent by patients new drug (such as low-density data from phase 2 clinical trials; in drug trials has traditionally lipoprotein cholesterol for statins). and such other confirmatory evi- been sacrosanct, with exceptions But though a drug’s effect on a dence as the secretary [of health made only when consent is im- biomarker can make approval and human services] determines possible to obtain or contrary to quicker and less costly, especially appropriate to approve the drug.” a patient’s best interests. But an- if the comparator is placebo, it Antimicrobials approved in this other clause in the proposed law may not always predict the drug’s manner would carry disclaimers adds a new kind of exception: capacity to improve patient out- on their labeling, but there is no studies in which “the proposed comes. Bevacizumab (Avastin) de- evidence that such a precaution clinical testing poses no more layed tumor progression in ad- would restrict prescribing to only than minimal risk” — a major vanced breast cancer but was the most appropriate patients. If departure from current human shown not to benefit patients. passed in its current form, the subject protections. It is not clear Similarly, rosiglitazone (Avandia) bill would also provide hospitals who gets to determine whether a lowered glycated hemoglobin with a financial bonus for ad- given trial of a new drug poses levels in patients with diabetes ministering costly new but un- “minimal risk.” 2 n engl j med nejm.org The New England Journal of Medicine Downloaded from nejm.org at PARTNERS HEALTHCARE on June 3, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved. PERSPECTIVE The 21st Century Cures Act Embedded in the language of apeutic efficacy and risk. Patients 1. 21st Century Cures Act. May 19, 2015. (http://docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF00/ the 21st Century Cures Act are and physicians would not benefit 20150519/103516/BILLS-1146ih.pdf). some good ideas that could from legislation that instead of 2. Kesselheim AS, Tan YT, Avorn J. The roles streamline the development and catapulting us into the future, of academia, rare diseases, and repurposing in the development of the most transforma- evaluation of new drugs and de- could actually bring back some of tive drugs. Health Aff (Millwood) 2015;34: vices; its call for increased NIH the problems we thought we had 286-93. funding may prove to be its most left behind in the 20th century. 3. Downing NS, Aminawung JA, Shah ND, Krumholz HM, Ross JS. Clinical trial evi- Disclosure forms provided by the authors useful component. But political dence supporting FDA approval of novel are available with the full text of this article forces have also introduced other therapeutic agents, 2005-2012. JAMA 2014; at NEJM.org. provisions that could lead to the 311:368-77. 4. Avorn J. Approval of a tuberculosis drug From the Program on Regulation, Thera- approval of drugs and devices based on a paradoxical surrogate measure. peutics, and Law (PORTAL), Division of that are less safe or effective than JAMA 2013;309:1349-50. Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeco- 5. Dhruva SS, Bero LA, Redberg RF. Strength existing criteria would permit. nomics, Department of Medicine, Brigham of study evidence examined by the FDA in and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medi- Over the past 80 years, this premarket approval of cardiovascular devic- cal School, Boston.