Dr. Carey on the Future of Clinical Trial Design

Lisa A. Carey, MD, Professor of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, discusses the present and future state of clinical trial design.

The traditional paradigm for breast cancer clinical trials has several problems: the process is slow, it takes thousands of patients, and it can essentially answer only one question at a time. As it is understood that there are many subtypes of breast cancer, it is also becoming clear that traditional research methods won't work.

New trials will have alternative designs to allow them to be more nimble. Carey believes that researchers will test genetic problems as opposed to cancer types and that the future of drug development will be more agnostic about the type of tumor. This method, Carey says, will require tighter partnerships between clinicians and scientists.