The Process of Developing New Cancer Drugs

By: Mollie Sutton

Phase 0: Phase I: Phase II/III: Phase IV:

This is the very first stage that
needs to be completed during
the preclinical trial. This trial is
done on a small group of people
with a small dosage of the
treatment being tested. This is to
determine if the treatment can
reach cancer cells not necessarily
This is the first phase that is
conducted once phase 0 is
completed and is the start of the
clinical trial. During this phase,
the medication is tested on
humans for its safety and
effectiveness as well as
determining the proper dosage to
During Phase II and III the drug is
tested on a smaller group of
patients to specifically study how
the treatment affects certain
cancers. Once the medication
shows the proper results the
doctors are looking for it
becomes approved for further
In Phase IV the medication has
already been approved so this
phase is used for further
investigation related to side
effects caused as the treatment
is used throughout the following
years.

treat cancer itself. treat specific cancer. study.

A clinical trial takes a lot of time and money to be completed and most of the time they never are completed. this is because the cost of research has
skyrocketed or the trial has become outdated. With this being said it is important for scientists conducting these trials to study the treatment long before
the clinical trial proceeds to prove that it is worth the time and money to continue the research.