Drugs that lack single-agent activity: are they worth pursuing in combination?

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

1. Cardiovascular/anti-inflammatory drugs repurposed for treating or preventing cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials.Cancer medicine · 2024
   Pooled it
2. Evaluation of the contribution of randomised cancer clinical trials evaluating agents without documented single-agent activity.ESMO open · 2020
   Trial
3. Integrative genomic identification of therapeutic targets for pancreatic cancer.Cell reports · 2025
   Article
4. Assessing patient risk, benefit and outcomes in drug development: an observational study of regorafenib clinical trials.BMJ oncology · 2024
   Article
5. Independent Drug Action in Combination Therapy: Implications for Precision Oncology.Cancer discovery · 2022
   Review
6. Can Any Drug Be Repurposed for Cancer Treatment? A Systematic Assessment of the Scientific Literature.Cancers · 2021
   Article
7. Pharmacology-based ranking of anti-cancer drugs to guide clinical development of cancer immunotherapy combinations.Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR · 2021
   Review
8. Combining epigenetic drugs with other therapies for solid tumours - past lessons and future promise.Nature reviews. Clinical oncology · 2020
   Review
9. Low-value approvals and high prices might incentivize ineffective drug development.Nature reviews. Clinical oncology · 2018
   Article
10. Management of relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma: novel agents, antibodies, immunotherapies and beyond.Leukemia · 2018
    Review
11. Implementing targeted therapies in the treatment of glioblastoma: Previous shortcomings, future promises, and a multimodal strategy recommendation.Neuro-oncology advances
    Review

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

Abstract

PubMed holds no abstract for this paper.

Indexed as