Harpal Kumar, Chief Exec of Cancer Research UK, has said that ‘an explosion in our understanding of what cancer is’ is leading to a ‘golden era’ for research into the disease.

This article in the Guardian talks about Kumar’s comments, the use of Herceptin, and the new test on tumor samples which is able to indicate in advance whether the drug will work on individual patients.

Being able to determine in advance which groups of patients will benefit from a treatment, Kumar says, could make clinical testing cheaper – and that would have a knock-on effect on the long term price of drugs.