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# Too Many Cancer Immunotherapeutics Available?
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/too-many-cancer-immunotherapeutics-available/
- Published: 2019-04-17T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T01:20:59.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5143889

With immunotherapeutics accounting for 21% of FDA’s oncology drug approvals in 2018, Oncology Center of Excellence director **Richard Pazdur** convened executives from six drug companies at an American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting panel to discuss whether there are too many such drugs on the market. An online AACR [report](https://blog.aacr.org/pd1-pandemonium/?ref=fdaweb.com) says that at the time of the panel discussion there were six FDA-approved immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting PD-1 or PD-L1 and many more in development.

Pazdur asked the industry executives whether all six of the drugs were actually the same drug and whether there are too many of them. Most participants agreed that while there are clear differentiators between the therapeutics, their safety and clinical activity tend to be more similar than different. However, there was discussion about significant differences in the classes (PD-1 versus PD-L1).

All of the executives indicated that competition has improved patient access to what has turned out to be a revolutionary group of new cancer treatments.

Pazdur also challenged the executives on the lack of collaboration that had occurred in the development of targeted immune therapeutics to treat renal cell carcinoma. He said that multiple trials being done against Sutent (the standard of care) was “a very wasteful approach to developing a drug without any collaboration between the companies. Our point of view from a regulatory agency is that patients … are not a company’s resource, they are a global resource to answer important questions.”

The executives indicated they basically believed it was unrealistic to expect companies to come together on their own to design and conduct a clinical trial with a single control arm because that is not what they are set up to do. It could take an external force driving it to make it happen, one suggested.

Listen to an audio file of the panel discussion [here](https://webcast.aacr.org/console/player/43978?mediaType=audio&&crd%5Ffl=0&ssmsrq=1555517880647&ctms=5000&csmsrq=5265&ref=fdaweb.com).