Many cancer experiments cannot be confirmed in the lab: study

A team of academics initiated a quest eight years ago to meticulously replicate early but crucial lab studies in cancer research.

They re-created 50 tests using mice and test tubes, the type of preclinical research that lays the groundwork for future cancer medicines. According to the findings released on Tuesday, over half of the scientific assertions did not hold up.

‘The truth is that we deceive ourselves. Most of what we claim to be innovative or noteworthy isn’t,’ said Dr. Vinay Prasad, a cancer doctor and researcher at the University of California, San Francisco.

It is a tenet of science that the most powerful discoveries come from experiments that can be repeated with identical results.