Cancer research in the global village

Results of the Trastuzumab for Gastric Cancer (ToGA) study1 of chemotherapy for advanced upper gastrointestinal cancer in The Lancet today are interesting on many levels, including the implications of this type of commercially funded study for research into cancer treat ment and the political and moral consequences of the globalisation of research into cancer treatment. [...] results are generally true for cetuximab in cancers of the head and neck,2,3 bevacizumab in colorectal cancer,4 trastuzumab in breast cancer,5 and now, for trastuzumab in tumours of the upper gastrointestinal tract.