Time to adapt

摘要

At the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting in Washington DC last week, a recurrent theme was complexity. The deeper scientists have delved into the fundamental nature of cancer, the more they have come to recognize its vast genetic diversity, which can make even tumours of the same cancer type seem unrelated. It is encouraging to see researchers embracing new methods to dealrnwith that complexity. One especially promising technique highlighted in several talks was the adaptive' clinical trial, which allows researchers to avoid being locked into a single, static protocol for the duration of the trial. Instead, investigators can evaluate data as they come in, and use that information to change a trials structure (see page 1258).