(2 of 2)
Some critics are concerned that the new $4 million-per-year program will fail to spot drugs that are enhanced naturally by the body's metabolism or immune system, and that the old mouse screens were better in that respect. In any case, new agents discovered by the automated screening may require years of additional testing in the lab -- and then on animals -- before any newly discovered therapies can be tried on human cancer patients. "All it will take," says NCI adviser Korn, dean of the Stanford University School of Medicine, "is one smashing winner. Then everyone will say it was worth it."