MIAMI BEACH – Randomized clinical trials are the gold standard for evidence-based medicine, but only about 5% of patients are enrolled. The majority of patients who are being treated for diseases such as breast cancer are ineligible for trials due to advanced age, poor performance, comorbidities, or other factors, noted Mohammad Jahanzeb, MD, professor of hematology/oncology at the University of Miami.
In contrast, studies using data from prospective registries provide valuable insights for investigators into diseases of real patients in real-world settings. Registry studies serve as a “living laboratory” that can help inform clinical practice, generate new clinical questions, and optimize clinical trial designs, he said at the annual Miami Breast Cancer Conference, held by Physicians’ Education Resource.
In a video interview, Dr. Jahanzeb described the benefits of large patient registries and studies based on their data, including the registerHER and SystHERs observational registries of women with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive metastatic breast cancer.
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The two registries are just a few years apart, but the data derived from them reflect the substantial changes that have occurred in breast cancer therapy over the last decade, he said.
The registerHER and SystHERs registries are sponsored by Genentech. Dr. Jahanzeb disclosed grant/research support from Lilly, AbbVie, Genentech, and Novartis, and consulting with Novartis and Genentech.