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Published online: 2024-11-05

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Umbrella trials as a novel concept of cancer clinical trials — a systematic review

Mikołaj Bartoszkiewicz1, Joanna Kufel-Grabowska2, Paweł Burchardt3

Abstract

Precision medicine in oncology is a strategy for selecting cancer patients with specific molecular disorders that may be suitable for targeted therapies at the cellular level. With the development of targeted therapies, pharmaceutical companies emphasize the importance of molecular clinical trials in oncology. Umbrella trials are prospective clinical trials that test multiple targeted therapeutic options against specific molecular targets in a single disease entity. In contrast, basket trials recruit patients with different cancers but at the same molecular level. The development of umbrella and basket trials not only reduces the costs of clinical trials but also provides patients with access to modern experimental therapies. 

This article aims to present the principles of conducting umbrella and basket studies and present currently ongoing experiments in patients with the most common cancers. The development of oncology requires physicians to follow new developments in diagnostics and therapy, which may directly improve the prognosis of our patients. An individual approach to the patient is the future of precision oncology. 

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