An Informatics Bridge to Improve the Design and Efficiency of Phase I Clinical Trials for Anticancer Drug Combinations

In this study, we summarized critical databases of drug combination toxicity and pharmacokinetics. We further conducted a feasibility and utility study that demonstrates how different data sources can contribute to and assist phase I trial designs. Single-drug and drug combination toxicity and pharmacokinetic data were primarily reviewed from several databases. We focused on the MTD, dose-limiting toxicity (DLT), toxicity, and pharmacokinetic profiles. To demonstrate the feasibility and utility of these data sources in improving trial designs, phase I studies reported in ClincalTrials.gov from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018 were used as examples. We evaluated whether and how these studies could have been designed differently given toxicity and pharmacokinetic data. None of the existing pharmacokinetic and toxicity databases contain either MTD or DLT. Among 268 candidate trials, four drug combinations were studied in other phase I trials before 2018; 185 combinations had complete or partial information on drug interactions or overlapping toxicity, and 79 combinations did not have available information. Two drug combination trials were selected as case studies. The nivolumab-axitinib trial could have been designed as a dose deescalating study, and the vinorelbine-trastuzumab emtansine trial could have been designed with a lower dose of either drug. Public data sources contain significant knowledge of the drug combination phase I trial design. Some important data (MTD and DLT) are not available in existing databases but in the literature. Some phase I studies could have been designed more efficiently with additional preliminary data. SIGNIFICANCE: Prior preclinical and clinical knowledge is critical for designing effective and efficient cancer drug combinatory trials. We reported results on the feasibility and utility of different informatics resources for contributing to and assisting phase I trial designs based on our designed classification approach. We also found that public data sources contained significant knowledge for drug combination phase I trial design, but some critical data elements (MTD and DLT) were missing.