Every medicine currently used to treat cancer went through a rigorous series of clinical trials — investigational use in humans to track and adjust dosing to maximize efficacy and limit side effects — before being approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for widespread use.
Clinical trials conducted by researchers like those at the University of Colorado Cancer Center are vital for driving treatment forward, says Jennifer Diamond, MD, medical director of the cancer center’s Cancer Clinical Trials Office. Behind every standard-of-care drug now being used to treat breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and other types of cancer are years of testing and three phases of clinical trials that went into its development.
→ Learn more about open clinical trials at the CU Cancer Center.
We talked with Diamond about how clinical trials work and how they lead to more effective therapies.