Clinical research in the older cancer patient

Despite the well-recognized increase in cancer incidence with age, and the increasing proportion of: elderly in our population, little research has be en specifically targeted to elderly subjects. Three areas that represent cu rrent efforts to increase clinical research on the elderly cancer patient a re addressed in this article. The first is a series of research initiatives proposed by the National Institutes of Health through a collaboration of t he National institute of Aging and the National Cancer Institute. The secon d area is comprised of studies conducted by Cancer and Acute Leukemia Group B (CALGB) one of the major clinical cancer trials cooperative groups in th e United States, and the third is comprised of specific approaches aimed at better defining cancer drug pharmacology in the elderly, using specific ex amples from CALGB studies.