As cancer treatment advances, patients and doctors push back against drugs' harsh side effects

FOR cancer patients, the harsh side effects of powerful drugs have long been the trade-off for living longer. Now, patients and doctors are questioning whether all that suffering is necessary.

They've ignited a movement to radically change how new cancer drugs are tested, with the US Food and Drug Administration urging drugmakers to do a better job at finding the lowest effective dose, even if it takes more time.