An agent study is a part of a clinical trial

Clinical trial

Clinical trials are a set of procedures in medical research and drug development that are conducted to allow safety and efficacy data to be collected for health interventions...

 that tests the chemotherapeutic

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....

 properties of a specific substance. More specifically, an agent study is used to detect whether or not a substance can prevent or inhibit cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

. In a clinical trial, researchers perform multiple studies in order to test the potential of new cancer drugs. An agent study helps determine the potential of a substance to inhibit cancer, before more studies are done in order to further knowledge of this potential.

Synonym:
Chemoprevention study