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GUIDANCE DOCUMENT

Considerations for the Design and Conduct of Externally Controlled Trials for Drug and Biological Products February 2023

Draft

Not for implementation. Contains non-binding recommendations.

This guidance is being distributed for comment purposes only.

Submit Comments by

Although you can comment on any guidance at any time (see 21 CFR 10.115(g)(5)), to ensure that the FDA considers your comment on a draft guidance before it begins work on the final version of the guidance, submit either online or written comments on the draft guidance before the close date.

If unable to submit comments online, please mail written comments to:

Dockets Management
Food and Drug Administration
5630 Fishers Lane, Rm 1061
Rockville, MD 20852

All written comments should be identified with this document's docket number: FDA-2022-D-2983


Docket Number:
FDA-2022-D-2983
Issued by:
Guidance Issuing Office
Center for Drug Evaluation and Research
Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research
Oncology Center of Excellence

This guidance provides recommendations to sponsors and investigators considering the use of externally controlled clinical trials to provide evidence of the safety and effectiveness of a drug product. In an externally controlled trial, outcomes in participants receiving the test treatment according to a protocol are compared to outcomes in a group of people external to the trial who had not received the same treatment. The external control arm can be a group of people, treated or untreated, from an earlier time (historical control), or it can be a group of people, treated or untreated, during the same time period (concurrent control) but in another setting.

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