Friday, August 7, 2009

Lack of volunteers impedes cancer research

An important article from the New York Times, a paper that should be commended for its excellent coverage of cancer over the past few years.

Forty Years' War - Lack of Study Volunteers Hobbles Cancer Fight

Excerpt:

There are more than 6,500 cancer clinical trials seeking adult patients, according to clinicaltrials.gov, a trials registry. But many will be abandoned along the way. More than one trial in five sponsored by the National Cancer Institute failed to enroll a single subject, and only half reached the minimum needed for a meaningful result, Dr. Ramsey and his colleague John Scoggins reported in an editorial in the September 2008 issue of The Oncologist.

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