Mikkael A. Sekeres,M.D., in The Hill: The disgrace of cancer clinical trials

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In an op-ed for The Hill, Mikkael A. Sekeres, M.D., director of Cleveland Clinic’s leikemia program, explains that fewer than five percent of adult cancer patients
with limited available treatment options areselected for clinical trials. And that, he says, is a national disgrace and one of the main barriers to progress in the war against cancer.

In a recent Cleveland Clinic study published in the journal Leukemia, researchers examined 97 recent randomized trials conducted in cancers of the blood and bone marrow, involving almost 44,000 patients. The study found that almost 90 percent of the trials unnecessarily excluded patients from potentially life-altering treatments. Dr. Sekeres is the vice-chair for clinical research at the Cleveland Clinic Cancer Institute, as well as a former chair of the FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee.