A phase III trial of Halaven (eribulin) in patients with soft tissue sarcoma demonstrated a statistically significant extension in overall survival over the comparator treatment dacarbazine, the primary endpoint of the study. No other systemic treatment for locally advanced or metastatic soft tissue sarcoma has been reported to extend overall survival in a phase III study, according to Halaven’s sponsor, Eisai.
How’s this for a paradox: The better cancer centers become at keeping patients alive, the more expensive cancer care becomes. This brutal tradeoff hits harder in rural areas, where the cancer burden is higher and the investigator and clinical trial representation is lower.
