Enhancing the Efficacy of Radiation Therapy: Premises, Promises, and Practicality

innovative approaches to enhancing the outcome of patients treated with radiation therapy. Articles by outstanding leaders in the field are included:Morris andHarari1 addressmolecular targeted therapy plus radiation; Wang and Tepper2 describe uses of nanotechnology for enhancing diagnosis, radiation targeting, and radiation cell killing; andGiaccia3 analyzes howmolecular radiation biology can be applied in the clinic. AsMorris andHarari1 point out, within the universe ofmolecu-lar cancer therapeutics there is a dearth of clinical trials testing combined-modality systemic therapy plus radiotherapy (CMRT), by which we mean the administration of agents concurrently with radiation rather than sequentially before or after radiation. A key reason for this is that the development of CMRT is hampered by an approach to drug development that focuses almost exclusively on obtaining an initial US Food and Drug Administration–approve