Guidance for Industry:  Codevelopment of Two or More Unmarketed Investigational Drugsf or Use in Combination

Combination therapy is an important treatment modality in many disease settings, including cancer, cardio-vascular disease, and infectious diseases. Recent scientific advances have increased our understanding of the pathophysiological processes that underlie these and other complex diseases. This increased understanding has provided further impetus for new therapeutic approaches using combinations of drugs directed at multiple therapeutic targets to improve treatment response or minimize development of resistance. In settings in which combination therapy provides significant therapeutic advantages, there is growing interest in the development of combinations of investigational drugs not previously developed for any purpose.

Because the existing developmental and regulatory paradigm focuses primarily on assessment of the effectiveness and safety of a single new investigational drug acting alone, or in combination with an approved drug, FDA believes guidance is needed to assist sponsors in the codevelopment of two or more unmarketed drugs. Although interest in codevelopment has been most prominent in oncology and infectious disease settings, codevelopment also has potential application in other therapeutic settings. Therefore, this guidance is intended to describe a high-level, generally applicable approach to codevelopment of two or more unmarketed drugs. It describes the criteria for determining when codevelopment is an appropriate option, makes recommendations about nonclinical and clinical development strategies, and addresses certain regulatory process issues.

Inegral FDA Document is available at:

http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/Guidances/UCM236669.pdf