In early 2020, British oncologist Dr Sheeba Irshad was preparing to start a trial of three new treatments for patients with an aggressive form of breast cancer. Then Covid-19 derailed years of planning.
Only three of the study’s nine prospective sites have since resumed recruitment. The remainder have faced staff shortages as hard-pressed teams in England’s NHS have focused on caring for Covid-19 patients and clearing lengthy waiting lists for non-urgent treatments.
In wealthy nations the health emergency has derailed studies such as Irshad’s, which pave the way for future breakthroughs and can offer a last chance to patients when other treatments have failed. Drops in cancer diagnosis — as screenings were delayed or patients feared seeking care — created a backlog of cases that also made it harder to recruit clinical trial participants.