1 month ago 16th Nov 09:48
Cancer drug research is entering a new era as more drugs are proving successful for patients, says Cancer Research UK .
However the charity is calling for pharmaceutical firms and academics to be more open about those which do not make the grade.
Improved knowledge of cancer's biology means 18% of new drugs, compared to 5% previously - will become standard treatments, said the charity's experts. The charities finding are published in the journal Nature Reviews Drug Discovery.
The hunt for cancer drugs is carried out on a massive scale, but there is also a massive failure rate, as drugs that initially showed promise fail during clinical trials.
The ability to tailor drug choices to the genetic make-up of patients in some cases is also having a benefit.Dr Ian Walker
The costs to drug firms and charities is many millions, although scientists do learn lessons even from expensive failures.
Some studies have estimated that, in the past, less than 5% of cancer drugs in the pipeline actually end up in day to day use.
Data on 974 drugs under developmen collected by Cancer Research UK experts however indicates that 18% of these new treatments will prove successful in clinical trials.
More about Cancer Drug Success Rates Boosted By New Research on page 2
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