Episode 1

Vivienne Parry asks whether patients take part in clinical trials simply to get better or for the common good, hoping for future cures.

Doctors ard patients both want the best chance of recovery from an illness, but when the condition is cancer - and curent treatments have failed - what hope do clinical trials offer? Now that cancer treatments are becoming more individually tailored and effective, is it worth the risk of trying to develop new drugs which may only be slightly better?