According to a study by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, only eight percent of cancer drugs that entered clinical development and testing in humans made it through to final approval. In comparison, during the same time period, 1993-1997, the U.S. has an approval rate of 20% for all new drugs.
The number of overall cancer drug candidates that entered clinical trials increased during the same time period.
Also, cancer drugs took an average of seven years to get through the clinical development and approval process compared with six years for all new drugs during the same time period.
1. A dysfunctional culture that pushes tens of thousands of physicians and scientists toward the goal of finding the tiniest improvements in treatment rather than genuine breakthroughs, that rewards academic achievment and publication even though their proven 'activity' has little to do with curing cancer.
Study Questions Dead-End Cancer Clinical Trials
http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/healthday/070910/study-questions-dead-end-cancer-clinical-trials.htm
Posted at 7:25AM on Sep 11th 2007 by Gregory D. Pawelski