• Question: Do you do experiment at people?

    Asked by to Matt on 13 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Matthew Lam

      Matthew Lam answered on 13 Mar 2014:

      When scientists are developing new cancer treatments they eventually have to test them on humans.

      Before this though, the new treatments is tested on cancer cells in a petri dish and also in animals (usually mice) to check that the drug is safe and that it is able to kill the cancer cells.

      If it passes through all these stages, then the drug can be tested on humans in clinical trials. In these trials, cancer patients are given either the new treatment of the best treatment we have available so we can work out if the drug is effective or not.

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