(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Cancer therapy has been a savior for many, but it
can take up to 12 years to submit a new anti-cancer agent to the FDA and even
then, only five to 10 percent are approved. Now, the National Cancer Institute’s
(NCI) Translational Research Working Group (TRWG) has created a set of tools to
make necessary cancer therapies available to the public sooner.
Each of the six “Pathways to Clinical Goals,” as the tools are called, involves
a series of steps to clarify and streamline the research process. The six
pathways cover six topics including anti-cancer agents (drugs or biologics),
biospecimen-based assessment methods, immune response modifiers, image-based
assessment modalities, intervention devices and lifestyle alterations. For each
pathway, researchers must answer questions regarding the topic. If any of the
answers are “no,” then research leaders are recommended to reevaluate their
research plans to make them more effective.
The TRWG hopes the guidelines will be widely used. “The NCI supports a great
deal of excellent translational research, but inefficiencies arising from a lack
of communication and coordinated effort prevent many promising leads from
reaching clinical trials and eventual approval,” Lynn Matrisian, Ph.D., a
special assistant in the Office of the Director at NCI and co-chair of the TRWG,
was quoted as saying. “We hope these pathways will help in placing each research
opportunity in the broader context of tangible cancer detection, diagnosis,
prevention, and treatment strategies.”
SOURCE: Clinical Cancer Research, published online September 15, 2008
