Experts agree that one of the biggest barriers to advancing cancer research is the lack of volunteers who participate in clinical trials. Clinical trials, which test the safety effectiveness of new treatments and then compare them to standard treatments, are the only way advances can be made; however, only 3 percent of adult cancer patients participate.
A recent article in the New York Times explores the reasons why clinical trial enrollment is so low and how researchers are working to change this through new methods of patient selection that would require far fewer than the usual 5,000-10,000 patients needed for each trial.
For more information on finding upcoming or ongoing clinical trials, visit www.clinicaltrials.gov and www.emergingmed.com.
