NCI declares state of crisis in trials

An NCI report concluded that our clinical trial system is nearing a "state of crisis." This seems like a case of new report, same conclusion. "A National Cancer Clinical Trials System for the 21st Century: Reinvigorating the NCI Cooperative Group Program," identified reasons for our system's lack of production including the time it takes to organize and launch a trial: More than two years of slugging through a Kafkaesque maze of bureaucracy and, if the trial finishes at all, the compound or therapy has a good chance of being out of date. Randomized controlled trials are still the gold standard for cancer agents to move from bench to bedside. We need to make it a national priority to streamline this overwrought process.