If headlines could cure deadly diseases, then everyone would have rejoiced last week. Across the U.S., newspapers heralded the development by scientists from Bristol-Myers Squibb of a "smart bomb," or "magic bullet," against cancer. The weapon, a type of protein called a monoclonal antibody combined with an anticancer drug, has wiped out a wide variety of tumors in laboratory mice.
Before people get too excited, though, they should know that researchers have attacked cancer with many kinds of monoclonal antibodies for 15 years and that success in mice has spawned only limited benefit in people. Back in the 1980s, Wall Street...
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