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The struggle to do no harm in clinical trials

What lessons are being learnt from studies that went wrong?
  1. Charles Schmidt

    1. Charles Schmidt is a freelance science writer based in Portland, Maine.

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Most people who enter a clinical trial for a cancer immunotherapy have advanced disease. They hope that the treatment, which aims to activate their T cells against cancer, will boost their life expectancy from months to years. In rare cases, however, the pendulum swings the other way and the treatment results in a fatal reaction.

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Nature 552, S74-S75 (2017)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-017-08705-4

This article is part of Nature Outlook: Cancer immunotherapy, an editorially independent supplement produced with the financial support of third parties. About this content.

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 12 January 2018: An earlier version of this article erroneously claimed that the biopharmaceutical firm Cellectis did not respond to requests for interview. A comment from the company has now been added.

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