A new cancer care dilemma: Patients want immunotherapy even when evidence is lacking

JUNE 4, 2018

Immunotherapy is a source of great hope in cancer care. It has rescued some patients from the brink, while giving others a reason to believe that they, too, could beat the long odds.

But these therapies are also creating a vexing dilemma for doctors: Their patients, citing television ads and media accounts of miraculous recoveries, are pushing hard to try them, even when there is little to no evidence the drugs will work for their particular cancer.