© 2005 Oxford University Press
NEWS |
Researchers Facing Increasing Costs for Clinical Research, With Few Solutions
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Clinical and investigational tools of the 21st century have given cancer researchers the ability to target the disease in new, innovative ways. However, these great advances come at a time when costs are rising in essentially every area of running clinical trials, leaving cancer experts wondering who will pay for trials in the future. Cost increases can affect virtually every aspect of a treatment trial, but evaluating trial costs can be difficult.
Costs for any clinical trial depend on the number of patients, the type of trial, and the support systems needed. Phase I trials tend to be the most expensive and can cost $10,000–$15,000 per patient, in part because documentation requirements for each patient in early-phase trials can mean that reports reach 2,000 pages, said John Nemunaitis, M.D., oncologist and head of the Mary Crowley Medical Research Center at Baylor Health Care System in Dallas. Even in phase III
Price of Committees
More Early Studies
Who Really Pays?