Patients for whom there are no existing treatments watch with desperation as a potentially helpful new drug spends years working its way from a lab bench, through clinical trials, and finally to the FDA, where reviewers consider it for approval.
For nearly 30 years, the American Cancer Society’s prostate cancer screening guidelines have advised men to discuss prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, testing with a clinician and weigh potential benefits and harms, rather than treat screening as an unquestioned routine. This “informed decision-making” recommendation was consistent with guidelines from all major professional organizations in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
