[s1artibartfast]

I don't think that is the right perspective and it doesn't have to be seen as an act of altruism.

Patients absolutely enroll in ph1 trials because they want to live, and doctors enroll them because they want them to live too.

A lot of time and money goes into picking drugs that companies and doctors think will perform better than the stand of care. That's the whole reason the trial exists. It exists because there is a plausible argument it will be better than the alternative.