Refractory
Cancer that does not respond to a treatment at all, or grows straight through it. Distinct from relapse, where the cancer responded first and came back later.
Refractory disease implies primary resistance: the tumour never depended on the drug's target, could not be reached by it, or had a resistant population from the outset. 'Relapsed or refractory' (R/R) is the standard label for the population in later-line trials, particularly in blood cancers, and 'platinum-refractory' ovarian cancer (progressing during or within a month of platinum chemotherapy) marks the group with the poorest prognosis. Because refractory patients have exhausted standard options, they are where new mechanisms are first tested and where the bar for approval is lowest.
Pages like this
not linked directly; found by shared links- TermProject FrontRunner
Shares Lines of therapy, Accelerated approval.
- TermRelapsed / refractory (R/R)
Shares Lines of therapy, Accelerated approval, Drug resistance (primary and acquired).
- TermRemission
Shares Recurrence and relapse, Progression.
- IdeaMake post-progression sampling a condition of accelerated approval
Shares Accelerated approval, Drug resistance (primary and acquired).
- TermCross-resistance
Shares Lines of therapy, Drug resistance (primary and acquired).
- TermMaintenance therapy
Shares Progression, Lines of therapy.
- Key paperCodeBreaK 200: sotorasib versus docetaxel in KRAS G12C-mutated lung cancer, a modest win for the first KRAS drug
Shares Accelerated approval, Drug resistance (primary and acquired).
- Key paperBREAKWATER: encorafenib plus cetuximab with chemotherapy as first treatment for BRAF V600E-mutated colorectal cancer
Shares Lines of therapy, Accelerated approval.