Master Protocols: Efficient Clinical Trial Design Strategies To Expedite Development of Oncology Drugs and Biologics; Draft Guidance for Industry; Availability

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) is announcing the availability of a draft guidance for industry entitled ``Master Protocols: Efficient Clinical Trial Design Strategies to Expedite Development of Oncology Drugs and Biologics.'' This guidance provides advice to sponsors of drugs and biologics for cancer treatment regarding the design and conduct of clinical trials, other than first- in-human (FIH) trials, intended to simultaneously evaluate more than one investigational drug and/or more than one cancer type within the same overall trial structure (master protocols) in adult and pediatric cancers. In contrast to traditional trial designs, where a single drug is tested in a single disease population in one clinical trial, master protocols use a single infrastructure, trial design, and protocol to simultaneously evaluate multiple drugs and/or disease populations in multiple substudies, allowing for efficient and accelerated drug development.