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Advice from patients on a study's design makes for better science

National Public Radio, Richard Harris

Many studies designed to try out new drugs simply languish. They don't attract enough patients, and they aren't completed. That slows medical progress.

But here's a story of one study that has bucked that trend — in fact, it is so popular, scientists had to put the brakes on it for a while.

The study is called the NCI-MATCH trial. It upends the normal way of classifying cancers for treatment: Instead of categorizing malignancies by the organ where they first appear, this method of sorting focuses on particular mutations in the genes of cancer cells.

"Instead of thinking of a breast cancer treatment or a lung cancer treatment or colon, it looks at the different mutations that occur in the tumors," explains oncologist Robert Comis, who leads the study.

NCI-MATCH recruits people who have tried and failed the traditional cancer treatments. People like 74-year-old Nancy Nahmias.

"It all started when I was diagnosed with cancer of the liver," Nahmias says. "I was put on chemo, which I reacted very poorly to." In fact, she developed a severe reaction called sepsis, which put her in the hospital for six weeks.

Standard chemotherapy was out of the question, her doctors told her.

Read the original article here.

 
 
 

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