Every new cancer therapy available today has come about through the conduct of clinical trials. Such trials are'absolutely necessary',Dr George Bosl of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, US, told delegates at the 36th annual ASCO meeting.*Yet Medicare and most private health insurers exclude coverage of clinical trials through policy provisions barring coverage of 'experimental' therapies. It is a commonly held opinion among insurers that it is more expensive to treat patients with cancer participating in clinical trials than those receiving standard care. At ASCO, researchers presented the results of two studies that challenge this belief.