Glioblastoma Clinical Trials: Current Landscape and Opportunities for Improvement

Therapeutic advances for glioblastoma have been minimal over the past 2 decades. In light of the multitude of recent phase III trials that have failed to meet their primary endpoints following promising preclinical and early-phase programs, a Society for Neuro-Oncology Think Tank was held in November 2020 to prioritize areas for improvement in the conduct of glioblastoma clinical trials. Here, we review the literature, identify challenges related to clinical trial eligibility criteria and trial design in glioblastoma, and provide recommendations from the Think Tank. In addition, we provide a data-driven context with which to frame this discussion by analyzing key study design features of adult glioblastoma clinical trials listed on ClinicalTrials.gov as recruiting or not yet recruiting as of February 2021.

Automated summary

This article reviews the limited therapeutic advances for glioblastoma and the failure of recent clinical trials, and emphasizes the need for improvement in clinical trial conduct. Challenges related to clinical trial eligibility criteria and trial design in glioblastoma are identified, and data-driven analysis of current glioblastoma clinical trials is provided.