[Comment] Academic clinical cancer trials to improve patient outcomes
Summary
Cancer clinical trials are conducted by both the commercial and non-commercial sectors. Whereas clinical trials conducted by the commercial sector aim for the marketing authorisation of new drugs, the primary characteristic of independent clinical trials conducted by the academic sector is the capacity to address a wide range of clinical research questions that are generally not addressed by the drug development ind…
Cancer clinical trials are conducted by both the commercial and non-commercial sectors. Whereas clinical trials conducted by the commercial sector aim for the marketing authorisation of new drugs, the primary characteristic of independent clinical trials conducted by the academic sector is the capacity to address a wide range of clinical research questions that are generally not addressed by the drug development industry. Crucial examples include the optimisation of surgical and radiation treatments, drug dose and treatment duration, multimodality combinations, sequence of treatments, head-to-head comparison of therapeutic strategies, better identification of patients who will or will not benefit, and addressing the needs of underserved patient populations.