How to Find the Right Cancer Clinical Trial for Treatment

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• Finding Cancer Clinical Trials at Major Centers
• Limitations of Community Hospitals for Trials
• Clinical Trial Availability by Tumor Type
• Patient Enrollment Challenges in Cancer Trials
• Initiatives for Clinical Trial Data Sharing
• Valuing Patient Contribution to Cancer Research
• Full Transcript

Finding Cancer Clinical Trials at Major Centers

The most effective strategy for finding an appropriate cancer clinical trial is to seek care at a major academic cancer center. As Dr. Bruce Chabner, MD, explains, these institutions are hubs for research, often running hundreds of studies simultaneously. He states, "We have more than 300 cancer clinical trials going on at any time. We have 80 experimental cancer medications in the process of testing. So your chances of finding the correct cancer clinical trial are good if you come to a cancer hospital like this." This concentration of research activity significantly increases a patient's options for accessing novel therapies.

Limitations of Community Hospitals for Trials

In contrast to large academic centers, community hospitals typically have far fewer, if any, active clinical trials open for patient enrollment. Dr. Bruce Chabner, MD, makes a clear distinction, noting that a patient's chances of finding a trial are "much better than if you go to a community hospital. You may not find a cancer clinical trial." This is due to the significant infrastructure, funding, and specialized personnel required to conduct complex clinical research, which are more commonly found at designated comprehensive cancer centers.

Clinical Trial Availability by Tumor Type

The availability of clinical trials is also highly dependent on a patient's specific cancer diagnosis. Dr. Chabner points out that "not all tumors have such cancer medications," meaning the number of experimental therapies varies greatly between cancer types. Patients with more common cancers, such as lung cancer, melanoma, colon cancer, or breast cancer, often have a wider array of clinical trial options to investigate. It is essential for patients and their oncologists to research what trials are available for their specific tumor type.

Patient Enrollment Challenges in Cancer Trials

A major systemic issue in oncology research is the difficulty in recruiting enough patients to successfully complete clinical trials. Dr. Anton Titov, MD, highlights a staggering statistic from the discussion: "Almost 60% of clinical trials fail to find enough patients." Furthermore, a separate challenge is the publication of results, with Dr. Titov noting that "only 20% of clinical trials the results are published." This creates a significant barrier to sharing valuable data that could benefit future patients and advance the field.

Initiatives for Clinical Trial Data Sharing

To combat the challenges of data siloing and unpublished results, several important initiatives have been launched. Dr. Bruce Chabner, MD, describes Project Data Sphere, an effort detailed in the New England Journal of Medicine that aims to collect de-identified data from approximately 100,000 patient experiences in clinical trials and make it publicly available. The goal, as Dr. Bruce Chabner, MD, explains, is so "researchers around the world can go to their computer and pull the data out" to perform new analyses and accelerate discovery.

Valuing Patient Contribution to Cancer Research

Recognizing the immense contribution of patients who participate in clinical research is a key ethical imperative. Dr. Bruce Chabner, MD, also mentions an effort by the journal The Oncologist, which he edits, to encourage the publication of data from trials so that participating patients "can actually see the results." He emphasizes that patients who make the effort to partake in an experimental clinical cancer trial deserve to know that their contribution has reached the public eye and is available for the scientific community to use, ensuring their experience benefits others.

Full Transcript

Dr. Anton Titov, MD: Thousands of clinical trials, including new cancer treatments, recruit patients. How do you find the most suitable cancer therapy clinical trial fast? An eminent oncologist explains. The challenge is also how to find the correct cancer medication clinical trial.

Because cancer clinical trials have a goal. They are often sponsored by a pharmaceutical company. The goal of a cancer clinical trial is to achieve statistical significance for the cancer treatment. This creates a conflict of interest. It is a challenging situation.

So how do you find the correct cancer clinical trial?

Dr. Bruce Chabner, MD: The answer is to go to a cancer center. Go to a cancer center like this one here. We have more than 300 cancer clinical trials going on at any time. We have 80 experimental cancer medications in the process of testing.

So your chances of finding the correct cancer clinical trial are good if you come to a cancer hospital like this. We are much better than if you go to a community hospital. You may not find a cancer clinical trial there.

Not all tumors have such cancer medications. You may have lung cancer, melanoma, colon cancer, or breast cancer. Then it is better to look at the availability of cancer clinical trials.

Dr. Anton Titov, MD: Absolutely! That is a very important point. Because you also mentioned in one of the cancer review articles that almost 60% of clinical trials fail to find enough patients. Yes! Only 20% of clinical trials have their results published. This is a huge challenge for sharing clinical trial data.

Dr. Bruce Chabner, MD: Yes! We've just started an effort in the "Oncologist" journal. I edit this cancer journal. We encourage cancer patients to submit the data. We will put it into the form of a brief publication. We will do the charts. We will show the data and make it available to everybody.

So that cancer patients who participate in trials can actually see the results. They know there is some benefit that they have given. They made the effort to take part in an experimental clinical cancer trial. That deserves to reach the public eye. It deserves to be there for the use of the scientific community.

So that's an important thing. We have to make sure that these cancer clinical trials get published.

Dr. Anton Titov, MD: That's amazing. It takes literally decades to get to the point of sharing the data. It is not about just publishing positive data or changing the data. That's where probably the Beau Biden Initiative on data sharing comes along.

Dr. Bruce Chabner, MD: Hopefully. We are working on data sharing. It is a project called Project Data Sphere. We have just described this cancer project in an article in the New England Journal of Medicine. This is trying to collect a hundred thousand patient experiences from clinical trials. We will make it publicly available.

So that researchers around the world can go to their computer and pull the data out. They can say, "If I had tried my cancer medication in this subset of patients, it might have worked."

Dr. Anton Titov, MD: Data sharing in new cancer medications is very, very important.