Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37407074›Full record

ArticleBMJ (Clinical research ed.)2023

Therapeutic value of first versus supplemental indications of drugs in US and Europe (2011-20): retrospective cohort study.

Kerstin N Vokinger, Camille E G Glaus, Aaron S Kesselheim, Miquel Serra-Burriel, Joseph S Ross, Thomas J Hwang

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
13citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

13 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
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  4. GPCR drug discovery: new agents, targets and indications.Nature reviews. Drug discovery · 2025
    Review
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  10. Trust in the Food and Drug Administration: A National Survey Study.Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · 2024
    Article
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  12. Article
  13. A Regulatory Roadmap for Repurposing: Comparing Pathways for Making Repurposed Drugs Available In The EU, UK, And US.The Journal of law, medicine & ethics : a journal of the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics · 2024
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Kerstin N VokingerInstitute of Law, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland Lst.vokinger@rwi.uzh.ch.ORCID 0000-0002-6997-7384
Camille E G GlausInstitute of Law, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Aaron S KesselheimProgram on Regulation, Therapeutics, and Law (PORTAL), Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Miquel Serra-BurrielInstitute of Law, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Joseph S RossNational Clinical Scholars Program, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
Thomas J HwangProgram on Regulation, Therapeutics, and Law (PORTAL), Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

Funding

Yale Clinical and Translational Science Award (U Component)UL1TR001863 · NCATS · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI John H. Krystal, LUCILA OHNO-MACHADO · 2016 to 2026
$102.9M
NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR001863
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo analyze the therapeutic value of supplemental indications compared with first indications for drugs approved in the US and Europe.

designRetrospective cohort study.

settingNew and supplemental indications approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) between 2011 and 2020.

main outcome measuresProportion of first and supplemental indications rated as having high therapeutic value using ratings from the French and German national, independent health authorities.

resultsThe cohort study included 124 first and 335 supplemental indications approved by the FDA and 88 first and 215 supplemental indications approved by the EMA between 2011 and 2020; the largest subset was for cancer disorders. Therapeutic ratings were available for 107 (86%) first and 179 (53%) supplemental indications in the US and for 87 (99%) first and 184 (86%) supplemental indications in Europe. Among FDA approved indications with available ratings, 41% (44/107) had high therapeutic value ratings for first indications compared with 34% (61/179) for supplemental indications. In Europe, 47% (41/87) of first and 36% (67/184) of supplemental indications had high therapeutic value ratings. Among FDA approvals, when the sample was restricted to the first three approved indications, second indication approvals were 36% less likely to have a high value rating (relative ratio 0.64, 95% confidence interval 0.43 to 0.96) and third indication approvals were 45% less likely (0.55, 0.29 to 1.01) compared with the first indication approval. Similar findings were observed for Europe and when weighting by the inverse number of indications for each drug.

conclusionsThe proportion of supplemental indications rated as having high therapeutic value was substantially lower than for first indications. When first or supplemental indications do not offer added therapeutic value over other available treatments, that information should be clearly communicated to patients and physicians and reflected in the price of the drugs.

Indexed as

Antineoplastic AgentsNeoplasmsCohort StudiesDrug ApprovalEuropeHumansPharmaceutical PreparationsRetrospective StudiesUnited StatesUnited States Food and Drug AdministrationAntineoplastic AgentsPharmaceutical Preparations

Identifiers

PMID37407074
PMCPMC10320829

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.