Two preclinical tests to evaluate anticancer activity and to help validate drug candidates for clinical trials

Current approaches to assessing preclinical anticancer activity do not reliably predict drug efficacy in cancer patients. Most of the compounds that show remarkable anticancer effects in preclinical models actually fail when tested in clinical trials. We blame these failures on the complexity of the disease and on the limitations of the preclinical tools we require for our research. This manuscript argues that this lack of clinical response may also be caused by poor in vitro and in vivo preclinical designs, in which cancer patients' needs are not fully considered. Then, it proposes two patient-oriented tests to assess in vitro and in vivo anticancer activity and to help validate drug candidates for clinical evaluation.