Association between FDA and EMA expedited approval programs and therapeutic value of new medicines: retrospective cohort study
OPEN ACCESS
Loading...
Author / Producer
Date
2020-10-10
Publication Type
Journal Article
ETH Bibliography
no
Citations
Altmetric
OPEN ACCESS
Data
Abstract
Objective
To characterize the therapeutic value of new drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the association between these ratings and regulatory approval through expedited programs.
Design
Retrospective cohort study.
Setting
New drugs approved by the FDA and EMA between 2007 and 2017, with follow-up through 1 April 2020.
Data sources
Therapeutic value was measured using ratings of new drugs by five independent organizations (Prescrire and health authorities of Canada, France, Germany, and Italy).
Main outcome measures
Proportion of new drugs rated as having high therapeutic value; association between high therapeutic value rating and expedited status.
Results
From 2007 through 2017, the FDA and EMA approved 320 and 268 new drugs, respectively, of which 181 (57%) and 39 (15%) qualified for least one expedited program. Among 267 new drugs with a therapeutic value rating, 84 (31%) were rated as having high therapeutic value by at least one organization. Compared with non-expedited drugs, a greater proportion of expedited drugs were rated as having high therapeutic value among both FDA approvals (45% (69/153) v 13% (15/114); P<0.001) and EMA approvals (67% (18/27) v 27% (65/240); P<0.001). The sensitivity and specificity of expedited program for a drug being independently rated as having high therapeutic value were 82% (95% confidence interval 72% to 90%) and 54% (47% to 62%), respectively, for the FDA, compared with 25.3% (16.4% to 36.0%) and 90.2% (85.0% to 94.1%) for the EMA.
Conclusions
Less than a third of new drugs approved by the FDA and EMA over the past decade were rated as having high therapeutic value by at least one of five independent organizations. Although expedited drugs were more likely than non-expedited drugs to be highly rated, most expedited drugs approved by the FDA but not the EMA were rated as having low therapeutic value.
Permanent link
Publication status
published
External links
Editor
Book title
Journal / series
Volume
371 (8263)
Pages / Article No.
Publisher
British Medical Association
Event
Edition / version
Methods
Software
Geographic location
Date collected
Date created
Subject
Organisational unit
09853 - Vokinger, Kerstin Noëlle / Vokinger, Kerstin Noëlle