PROGRESS IN CHEMOTHERAPY OF CANCER

The chemotherapy of cancer, in relation to surgery and radiotherapy, is a new method of attack. Its development, which started virtually in the 1940's, was reviewed by the WHO Expert Committee on Chemotherapy of Cancer that met in September 1961. The report of the Committee dealt with experimental and clinical studies in this field critically, but also to a necessary degree, comprehensively. The design and mechanism of action of the drugs, their biological screening and subsequent clinical trials were discussed, and a review was presented of the clinically available drugs and the neoplasms for which they were indicated. In the two years that have elapsed since the report was drawn up many new compounds have been tested and some have had clinical trials. There have been developments, too, in methods of administration. All these new developments are discussed in the present paper.