Importance of comparative effectiveness research to the future of healthcare evaluation and delivery.

Gary H Lyman speaks to Laura Dormer, Commissioning Editor: Gary H Lyman is a practicing medical oncologist and is nationally and internationally recognized for his leadership in comparative effectiveness, health services and outcomes research. He is a Full Member in the Cancer Prevention Program, Public Health Sciences Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (WA, USA), where he co-directs the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research, a multidisciplinary team devoted to clinical and economic evaluations of new and existing cancer prevention, screening and treatment technologies. In addition, Lyman is also Professor of Medicine and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Health Services in the School of Public Health and the School of Pharmacy at the University of Washington.

Quality of life in cancer clinical trials: researchers, patients and policy makers.

The second symposium of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer took place in September 2011 at the European Parliament in Brussels (Belgium). The aim of the symposium was to discuss a wide range of topics in health-related quality of life, symptom research and cancer clinical trials, including their design, implementation and analysis. Faculty and attendees included key opinion leaders in their fields, among them many Editorial Board members of Expert Review of Pharmacoeconomics & Outcomes Research, along with EU legislators and European patient groups, allowing increased collaboration between these different stakeholders in quality-of-life research in cancer clinical trials.