Phase I Oncology Studies: Evidence That in the Era of Targeted Therapies Patients on Lower Doses Do Not Fare Worse — Dr Maurie Markman et al

abstract:

"Purpose: To safely assess new drugs, cancer patients in initial cohorts of phase I oncology studies receive low drug doses. Doses are successively increased until the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) is determined. Because traditional chemotherapy is often more effective near the MTD, ethical concerns have been raised about administration of low drug doses to phase I patients. However, a substantial portion of oncology trials now investigate targeted agents, which may have different dose-response relationships than cytotoxic chemotherapies.......