Welcome to the Developmental Therapeutics Clinic

The goal of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Developmental Therapeutics Clinic (DTC) is to develop new treatments for patients with advanced cancer through innovative early-phase clinical trials. This clinic focuses on rationally developing new drugs and drug combinations that target specific abnormalities in tumors, rather than on one cancer type or histology. DTC staff utilize the power of molecular, precision medicine to design clinical trials that can help evaluate the benefit of the proposed therapy. DTC is part of the NCI, which is one of 27 institutes and centers that comprise the National Institutes of Health (NIH). DTC participates in the Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network (ETCTN) and supports the work of the Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis (DCTD).

Each year, patients from around the world with cancers that have relapsed after standard treatment visit DTC for consultation about participation in the innovative new treatment trials conducted at NIH. DTC treats patients in the NIH Clinical Center, and DTC staff collaborate with the patient's current clinical provider to ensure outstanding clinical care. Our patients are referred by other patients, patient's physicians, families and friends, or personally may seek out these studies independently.

If you are a referring physician, patient, or family member, please contact us by email or phone.