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Experimental Treatments

Experimental treatments refer to methods of cancer treatment that in United States are not approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or are not proven to be effective in treatment of cancer. These methods may include usage of a new drugs, new technology, or a different method of using an older drug.

Some of these methods have shown promising results in laboratory settings, yet they have to be used in human to make certain of their potential to treat cancer. Some of the methods are listed here:

• Hyperthermia

• Gene therapy

• Experimental drugs

• Oncogenes

• Cancer Vaccines

• Anti-sense based therapies

• Implantable Medications

• Anti Angiogenesis Strategies

Our current knowledge of medicine and specially cancer treatment is based on experiments that were done decades ago. Many patients have given consent to be enrolled on different experiments so that the best method of treatment for different illness be discovered. As a result, we can offer treatments that have proven to be effective against many illnesses, including cancers.

It takes many years from the discovery to establishing effectiveness of a drug on a certain cancer. This process is a tedious and slow one. Following is a short summary of this process:

• Establishment of efficiency of a drug in laboratory on cancer cells followed by study on laboratory animals

• Phase I trials to see if the drug can be safely used and to determine its side effects

• Phase II trials to determine the optimum dosage and schedule of the drugs

• Phase III trials to compare the efficacy of the experimental drug to already available drugs

In most situations, where an active and established treatment is available for a cancer, that treatment should be tried first. If patients fail to response to the standard treatment, an experimental treatment can be considered as the next step.

Patients who consider experimental treatments, should ask their questions from their medical oncologists. Patients should at least know the following information:

• Purpose of the experimental treatment?

  • whether a new drug is being used or a new method of administering an old drug?

  • whether the experimental drug has shown any efficacy or is just being studied in a phase I trial?

  • What are the potential side effects.