His breastcancer patients are surviving twice as long as most breast-cancer patients elsewhere. His use of high-dose Methotrexate treatment is achieving remissions for more than one out of every two cases of bladder cancer, and is doing even better for deadly head and neck cancers. Djerassi has also pioneered in immunotherapy-marshaling the body's own defenses to fight cancer. He was among the first to inject lymphokines, medium-sized molecules produced by the body's immune cells, into human patients systemically. This has proved to be one of the most promising fields of cancer research.
Patient Comes First.
Although Djerassi spends half his time in his research laboratories, he is above all a physician. He'll do nothing to advance science unless it helps the patient. This is an experiment in which a physician demonstrates the effectiveness of an experimental drug by administering it to only half his patients, while he gives the others a placebo, a useless, inert substance. Typically, Djerassi won't try a new experimental drug on a cancer patient unless he is dealing with a terminal case beyond help by conventional means. If he is not well enough, we use something else, less hazardous, even though less effective.