NCI’s Clinical Trials Programs and Initiatives

• Why Clinical Trials Are Critical to Progress against Cancer
• How New Knowledge about Cancer Is Changing Clinical Trials
• How NCI Programs Make a Difference
• Early-Phase Clinical Trials: Building on Basic and Preclinical Advances
• Phase II and Phase III Trials: Testing Effectiveness
• Correlative and Quality of Life Studies: Improving Standard Clinical Practice
• How NCI Is Supporting Cutting-Edge Clinical Trials

WHY CLINICAL TRIALS ARE CRITICAL TO PROGRESS AGAINST CANCER

Clinical trials are essential for moving new methods of preventing, diagnosing, and treating cancer from the laboratory to physicians’ offices and other clinical settings.In clinical trials, researchers carefully and methodically test drugs, medical devices, screening approaches, behavioral modifications, and other interventions. Trials are used to answer many different clinical questions relevant to all aspects of health care, such as whether a treatment can prevent cancer in people at increased risk, whether a new drug can extend the lives of patients with advanced cancer, or whether specific treatment approaches can improve patients’ quality of life. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) typically requires proof of safety and effectiveness of a new anticancer drug in a large clinical trial before it can be used broadly in patient care.

In addition to testing new interventions, clinical trials can help determine the best use of existing interventions, test new approaches for increasing the number of people who seek follow-up care after a positive cancer screening test, and test ways to improve end-of-life care for patients.