Time to Research Oncology Treatments for Efficacy
The “war on cancer” devotes too much in search of new cures and too little to understanding the results of existing oncology therapies.
By the most objective measure of progress—improved overall survival—the results from the hunt for new cures are meager. “The age-adjusted mortality rate for cancer is about the same in the 21st century as it was 50 years ago, whereas the death rates for cardiac, cerebrovascular, and infectious diseases have declined by about two-thirds,” laments Harold Varmus, the Nobel Prize-winning cancer researcher and former head of the National Institutes of Health, in his otherwise upbeat assessment about the future prospects for cancer research.
This is why a redrawn battle plan—one that focuses on turning the treatment system into a research and learning system that can teach oncologists the best use of the weapons they already have—is long overdue. To understand why this shift in focus is essential, let first examine our record to date in hunting for new cures.
http://www.scienceprogress.org/2009/05/cancer/
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