Tag Archive for: cancer clinical trials

How Can MPN Clinical Trials Be Diversified?

How Can MPN Clinical Trials Be Diversified? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

How can myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) clinical trials participants become more diversified? Expert Dr. Idoroenyi Amanam from City of Hope explains how MPN clinicians, institutions, pharma companies, and others can help expand the participant pool for all population groups.

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Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Amanam, how can we better encourage more diverse participation in MPN or any cancer clinical trials?

Dr. Indoroenyi Amanam: 

This is a great question. I think that going back to the idea that we want to practice the best science, we want to be able to publish the best data. The responsibility is on the clinicians, the scientists, the clinical trialists, the drug companies, the institutions to really be able to structure clinical trials that are relevant to our real world experience. And so how can we better encourage that? I think from a government perspective, potentially incentivizing drug companies and institutions and the other major players that really are involved in pushing this field forward to practice better science. I think we put so much of responsibility on the clinical trial participants, and we’ve spent many years really analyzing or thinking about the reasons why the clinical trial participants are not or the lack of clinical trial participants is from specific groups.

But I think we have to put that look at us, the scientists, the physicians, the institutions, the companies. What are we not doing right here? And I think we have to put a lot of energy there. And once we’re clear that being able to have a diverse participant pool will give us the best results and therefore will lead to your drug being approved. I think we will have more participants from all groups.


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How Has Cancer Research Evolved in Light of the COVID-19 Pandemic?

How Has Cancer Research Evolved in Light of the COVID-19 Pandemic? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo

What have been some benefits for cancer research during the COVID-19 pandemic? Expert. Dr. Shaji Kumar describes some of the clinical trial changes that have been born from the pandemic to improve access to care and to decrease the risk of infection for cancer patients.

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Transcript:

Mary Leer:

Are there any noticeable trends born out of the pandemic that will be or could be a benefit to the future of cancer care or research?

Dr. Shaji Kumar:

That’s a very important question, and I think we always learn from adversity, and I think this is going to be no different. I think, especially when the pandemic hit back in the spring of last year, we all had to think fast on our feet to figure out how best to continue to tell about the best care for the cancer patients without compromising the care in any way. And we knew that bringing the patients back into the clinic at the same rate we did before the pandemic would expose them to significant risk for infection, so how do we continue with treatment? There have been very different things people have tried…one of them is to try and get the medications to patients at home. If they are on IV medications, they can be changed to something that’s comparable that can be given by mouth. We already did that for some patients. For some patients who used to come to the clinic very often, so we figure out is there a way for them to get some of those testing done in a clinic much closer to home, so they can avoid the travel, they can avoid being in a bigger city, they can avoid being in a bigger institution, again, reducing the risk of exposure, and then you look at those numbers and then decide on the next course of treatment. We converted many of the clinic visits to video visits. Nothing is as good as having the patient right in front of you, but this is the best we could do under the circumstances.

And I think that helped. So I think the clinical trials was a big problem because in many of those trials were done in a very rigid fashion with very little variability allowed within the protocols. And everybody loosened from the clinical trial sponsors, the pharmaceutical companies, the institutional review board, the investigators to try and build flexibility into those clinical trial structures to allow patients to continue to be on those trials, So what does that mean for the future? I think the video visits are here to stay, I think we will continue to utilize that and bring patients back to the clinic only when it’s absolutely needed. I think the clinical trials will have in-built flexibility so that patients can enroll on clinical trials remotely, they can potentially be given some of those medications at home, maybe it would be something where we would check into the patients on a regular basis to make sure things are proceeding in the right way. I think there are increasingly technologies that will allow the patients to communicate in real time with the care team and also provide many of the data that we need through iPads or iPhones, Apple watches, whatever we end up using.

So that is that I think that technology will rapidly take off in the next few years. So I think a lot of the care of the patients with cancer in general, and particularly cancer patients, is going to look very different five years from now, because of all these things that we have always thought of and we thought, “Yeah it will take time to implement, it’s difficult.” Now we figure it out in a year. We can do a lot of those things.

Jeff Bushnell:

What’s the final takeaway for the average cancer patient and caregiver, how to get through this? What’s your bottom line for us all?

Dr. Shaji Kumar:

Your cancer treatment comes first, let’s not compromise on it, let us do it as safe as we can by observing all the instructions in terms of social distancing, masking, avoiding gatherings, getting vaccinated, and make sure you keep connected with your care team. You don’t have to be in the clinic to do that. There’s a variety of different tools, I think every hospital has options to either through their medical records to message their care team, or set up video visits and so forth.

So we want to be in a state where it was before the pandemic in terms of your communications, but use the technology, so we can decrease the risk of exposure without compromising the quality of care.

Empowered Patient and Care Partner Ask the Expert: Addressing COVID-19 Concerns

Empowered Patient and Care Partner Ask the Expert: Addressing COVID-19 Concerns from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

With COVID-19 infection and vaccine concerns, what are the key points for cancer patients and care partners to know? Expert Dr. Shaji Kumar from Mayo Clinic shares valuable information about protective measures against COVID-19 infection, vaccine side effects and effectiveness, working toward herd immunity, and cancer research benefits that have emerged from the pandemic. 

See More From the Best Care No Matter Where You Live Program

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Transcript:

Mary Leer:

My name is Mary Leer. I’m the Breast Cancer Network Manager.

Jeff Bushnell:

And I’m Jeff Bushnell, the MPN Network Manager at the Patient Empowerment Network. I’m a caregiver.

Dr. Shaji Kumar: I

’m Shaji Kumar, a hematologist at Mayo Clinic.

Mary Leer:

Jeff and I are proud to be part of a strong team of compassionate volunteers, helping health communities adapt to the realities of living with a serious illness, living with cancer during a pandemic certainly presents another layer of challenges. So, Jeff and I will drill down to ask the important questions from the community. For this production, Empowered Patient and Care Partner Ask the Expert, we are very lucky to be joined by noted expert, Dr. Shaji Kumar, a consultant in the division of hematology at Mayo Clinic. Thank you for taking the time to join us, Dr. Kumar.

Dr. Shaji Kumar:

Thank you for having me, Mary.

Mary Leer:

Let’s start with the top of mind questions for so many of us right now, what should every patient and care partner facing a cancer diagnosis know during the pandemic?

Dr. Shaji Kumar:

I think it’s a challenging time for everyone, and it’s obviously more challenging for patients dealing with cancer at the same time, thankfully, we have a vaccine at hand that will certainly make the situation a lot better, but I think from a cancer standpoint, I think what we need to keep in mind all the precautions we talk about in terms  of social distancing, masking, hand washing and all those measures apply equally to everyone, even more so to patients with cancer. And the reason why we say that it’s even more important for several reasons, one, and we continue to learn more about the pandemic and its impact on cancer, one thing that has become clear is that patients with underlying conditions including cancer are to other folks were more affected by the infection, more likely to have more severe interactions and poorer outcomes. Now, patients with cancer appear to be at a higher risk of getting the infection and then they get the infection having a more serious disease. Now, it’s hard to know how much of this is also related to the fact that patients with cancer often have to go into the hospital or the clinic, and hence are more likely to get exposed to the infection than someone who is able to just stay at home.

So that’s one thing. And second, we know that the ongoing treatment for cancer definitely suppresses the immune system, and hence places people at a higher risk of the infection itself. Now, even patients who have their past history of cancer, this appears to be some increased risk, even though this is a little bit, unclear how much more it impacts those individuals. But I think the bottom line is keep the awareness that you might be at a higher risk of getting the infection, more serious infection, and the need to take those precautionary measures in a more strict fashion, and getting the vaccination when you can get it is all things that one needs to keep in mind.

Jeff Bushnell:

Well, that’s wonderful, Dr. Kumar, you mentioned the vaccinations, I am a strong proponent of that, I happen to have been involved in the Moderna vaccine trial, which is and still enrolled, they’re doing the follow-up. I guess they’re checking the last time I was in last week, they took 8 vials of blood, I think they’re checking to see whether I have the antibodies and how long it will last, but I was very happy with the way it was conducted, they were very forthcoming with information.

It was very interesting. And out here in San Diego, where I am, we have done pretty well as a county in vaccinating people and Summer got the vaccine as well with myelofibrosis and she feels a lot better. But for cancer patients who have tested positive for COVID, are there notable consistencies amongst that group of people, and have we learned anything from those patients yet about maybe their chances of getting it more, or their reaction to it? That kind of thing.

Dr. Shaji Kumar:

We know that there’s a wide spectrum of reaction to the vaccine. The majority of the people would not notice any symptoms related to that except for some pain at the injection site.  Not there are some folks, number of people who might have more or just myalgia, muscle pains, just feeling fatigue, some low-grade fevers, just feeling blah for 24-48 hours, and it seems to be not too uncommon. The reactions to the vaccine in terms of the side effects or the symptoms, there doesn’t appear to be much of a difference between cancer patients and normal individuals. Now, in terms of the efficacy of vaccination, you just mentioned Jeff, about you being checked for the antibodies, obviously, that is something that we hope will happen to all individuals who get the vaccine, but we know that is not going to be the case, there’s going to be a wide variation in terms of how strong an immune response one might develop against vaccines. Now We know from, not necessarily the COVID vaccine, but the vaccinations that have been used in the past, whether it be flu vaccines or pneumococcal vaccines, that we all get patients with cancer or patients going through treatment for cancer that can suppress the immune system, tend to have a lower response. But again, that varies quite widely from patient to patient now, there are some vaccines where we can clearly look at the antibody response and say, “Oh, this is not adequate, and we need to maybe give an extra shot.”

We just don’t have that information for COVID vaccines yet. So the way I would look at it is, even though the response to the back in a given person might be less than what we eventually would identify to be optimal, it’s likely to be better than not having to see the vaccine, so I would encourage obviously, everybody to get the vaccine. Now, what about someone who has already had an infection, what would be the response? Should we vaccinate those people? We certainly should. Again, we don’t know the immunity from a natural infection, how long would that last? That is still something that is unknown, and the vaccination dose is likely to make the responses more relevant and more durable, so I would recommend the vaccines for everyone. We don’t think one vaccine is any different from another in terms of your underlying cancer or lack thereof. So in terms of assessing for the antibodies, there is no clear guideline in terms of what one should anticipate from  the vaccine, so there is really no way to say, check the antibody, and they can go ahead and get one more dose or you’re fully vaccinated. So I think the bottom line is, get the vaccine, you don’t need to necessarily test for a response, and then we continue with the usual measures for prevention.

Jeff Bushnell:

And so what would you tell the… I guess that’s pretty much the answer to the next question I had. What would you tell the patients who are in active treatment and who planned to get the vaccine just continue as normal after they get it, with all the appropriate precautions?

Dr. Shaji Kumar:

Yeah, no, I think there’s one other important aspect, Jeff, to that question you just raised, which is, what is the right timing to get vaccinated, the vaccine, and that is a question that often comes up. So patients who are not getting active treatment, there is obviously no concern whenever the name comes up, go ahead and get the vaccine. And the second is what if someone is actually getting active treatment for their cancer, is there any role in terms of trying to find the vaccination, with respect to the doses of the medications and for most of the treatment we are using for cancer, there are no clear guidelines in terms of the when they can get the vaccine, that having several guidelines that have been put out by different organizations. The bottom line is, if there is an ability to space out or give sometime between the vaccine and the dose of the medication, do that, don’t modify your treatments, just so that you can get the cross at a particular time. The only place where we would recommend specific guidelines within the context of somebody who may have had a bone marrow transplant or had some other kind of cellular therapies, in those contexts, we often recommend that you wait for a couple of months after the stem cell transplant, before we get the vaccines. But for all the other treatments that we are getting right now, we want to just within the schedule of the treatment that’s already on going, try and get the vaccine in between two doses.

Mary Leer:

For those who have been vaccinated and are living with cancer, you spoke to that in great depth, but I’m also wondering about people that are perhaps in post-treatment and let’s look at social distancing measures or other restrictions, are those different for patients versus the general population?

Dr. Shaji Kumar:

No, I think the proportions are the same, I think the social distancing and the masking should continue to be observed the same way, and I think the only other word of caution I think may be particularly relevant for the cancer patients would be, again, trying to avoid again those kind of being outdoors and larger groups of people, even if when you maintain the social distancing, try and not do that. The outdoors are probably a little better than smaller indoor gatherings, and it’s mostly the common sense proportions, and I think the cancer patients are probably more tuned to this because they have been following some of those things even before the COVID came on and post-vaccination, I would recommend that these steps don’t change at all, partly because we gain for a given person, we don’t know how robust the immune response that those patients have after the vaccination and the lack of good testing to say that, okay, now you’re fully vaccinated, your response is great, you don’t need to worry about getting infected.

Mary Leer:

Wow, thank you so much. That’s so helpful. I’m going to shift to vaccine hesitancy. This is an important topic for many. Drug development takes years, sometimes decades. Can you speak to those who might be hesitant about the speed of vaccine development around COVID. I’ve heard this often from other people saying, “Well, they develop this so quickly, how can we trust it?”

Dr. Shaji Kumar:

Yeah, no, I think those concerns are quite valid, I think vaccines have always been a very controversial topic and not just COVID vaccination but even for childhood vaccinations. There have been long-standing concerns that some of those vaccinations may be responsible for some of the issues that we see in the children and even in the late adulthood. I think what we really want to get across is, again, taking that question apart, and there are multiple different aspects to it, one is the whole concept of how we created the vaccine so quickly, we kept telling everyone from the time that it started that it takes five to 10 years to develop a good vaccine, and now we have something in a year, so obviously that raises concerns amongst people. I think it’s just a testament to how far technology has come. In the past, we had to isolate the protein and use that protein to develop the immune response, and what has been really unique about the COVID situation has been the Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna vaccine, both of which uses a new technology called the mRNA-based technology. And this is something that has been developed over the past decade to decade-and-a-half, and I would say this is a platform that was perfect, just waiting for the right opportunity to come along.

And the COVID situation really presented that. And even though it was the speed with which this was developed, is just because the technology has come along so much and we can actually do that, and the second is how fast the clinical trials have been done, and I think that speaks to, again, the infrastructure that they have been developed over the years to rapidly develop and implement a clinical trial. So the clinical trials, both Pfizer and Moderna trials had 40 to 50,000 people enrolled in a quick phase and the community transmission that was happening at a very high rate. We could get these trials done in a very rapid manner, so the patients or the people who enrolled in this clinical trial the fact that they were not getting infected could be determined in a much, much faster fashion than what you would have done in the past with any of the other vaccines. So I think the technology is robust. The [COVID]  trials are very well-conducted and the end point in terms of efficacy has been very well-determined or very accurately determined.  And given the size of these trials and the number of people who have been a goal, I think we can feel fairly confident that the risk associated with this vaccine is pretty low, so you can argue that one of the risk of a particular side effect is only 1 in 80,000. So maybe to the 40,000 people enroll in the trial, they may not have adequate numbers of that and that was certainly a concern when they started vaccinating. And we just know a couple of days ago, there was a publication that looked at almost like 63 million vaccination doses that have been given, and overall the risk of vaccine related side effects have been very, very minimal.

So I think that should also boost our confidence.

But on the other hand, we all heard about what would happen with some of those vaccines and the blood clots, and I think that even though…yes, it is, as it is a risk. It is a very, very small risk. And the fact that you were able to identify them right away again, I think tells us that should there be rare side effects, you’re going to find it, and we are going to figure out the mechanics of why those side effects happen. And we’re going to figure out how to avoid those things.

So, I think the information flow is so fast and all the data related to vaccines and the side effects are being captured in a real-time fashion that we would be… You’d immediately be of avail of side effects should that happen.

Mary Leer:

Wow, that’s so reassuring. Thank you.

Jeff Bushnell:

Another question kind of along the same lines, doctor is the last few days, especially, it’s Vaccine hesitancy has really become sort of the issue to the potential of achieving herd immunity, and how can everybody in the medical community, you guys are facing those stuff in a different way, but the average person, how can we help overcome hesitancy and increase the people’s trust in the vaccine, and also increase the equitable distribution amongst all populations? Some populations are hesitant to take it, others have distance problems for being able to get it. What can we do to sort of push ourselves over the hill to get to that herd immunity?

Dr. Shaji Kumar:

Yeah, no, You bring up a very important point, and I hope we are in a much better place than many parts of the world right now because we have one of the few countries where a significant proportion of the people have been vaccinated, but we are not quite at the point where we can claim herd immunity, I think we still need to continue to pursue this, and I think the ideal goal is to get everyone who’s eligible to get a vaccine vaccinated. Now, you bring up some of the very important points, because even though vaccine hesitancy is a real problem, the underlying reason behind this is manifold, and the only way to tackle that is we have a multi-front approach that will take into account what is the reason behind it.

So for the people where it’s hard to get to populations which can live in far from the areas, it may be more the ability to use those vaccines, which does need the complicated storage, for example, the J&J vaccine. You only need one dose. It’s easy to store. So that may be one of the approaches to be taken. And people who believe that this is a vaccine is going to create side effects, or it’s part of some grand scheme to introduce a variety of things. I think it’s a person of education, and I think they really need to tell them what can happen with. Not really just to them, but the fact that if you continue to allow these infections to proceed on stuff, there are going to be increasing numbers of mutations, and that in turn is going to make the pandemic much more difficult to control in the long run. So it’s totally an individual benefit, but it’s on to the society’s benefit to have everyone be vaccinated. And then definitely, I think knowing that should anything unto it happen, there’s going to be medical care that’s going to be available to these individuals, and I think that’s also an important point, so who are near and dear to them is going to be the key thing.

Mary Leer:

Here’s a question many cancer patients are unclear about if antibodies are present or if I have tested positive before, there’s a wondering, “Should I still get the vaccine?”

Dr. Shaji Kumar:

Yeah, I know the recommendation right now is to go ahead and get the vaccine, partly because we don’t know the natural immunity from the infection, how long does it last. So it seems like the antibodies can start to wane off the infection. And again, we don’t have a lot of data on it, but it looks 3 to 6 months, it might start waning at least to the level that they can detect. Now, whether that is sufficient or even the undetectable levels is protective against a future infection, we don’t know. There have been some reports of people getting a second infection even though they have been infected before again, scattered reports, we don’t know how widespread that phenomenon is going to be, so given all these, I think the current recommendation would be to go ahead and get vaccinated. We generally tell people to wait for two to three months after the infection to go ahead with the vaccination.

Mary Leer:

Alright, thank you

Jeff Bushnell:

Should people… Is the idea of pre-screening, especially for cancer patients, maybe who may be at risk, I guess, to see whether they have antibodies or whatever, be an effective thing to decide which vaccine they should get? or I know, as I say, I was in the trial and they were very forthcoming to the participants with what the numbers were, and I was flabbergasted at how effective the vaccine was, it was just amazing to me, and that kind of information that I guess is not available publicly maybe it should be. Does it help to decide which vaccine you get? All I hear on the TV is get the first one you can. What are your thoughts on that?

Dr. Shaji Kumar:

Yeah, no, I completely agree with you. I think even those numbers may mean… You look at the Moderna and the Pfizer trials, and they said, now over 90 percent effective. Look at the AstraZeneca trials, you know, it’s like they recorded 70 to 80, 85 percent, and the J&J about 80 to 90 percent effective. Do these numbers mean much? It’s really hard to know, I think, partly because they have been tested in, again, different countries, different times, as the virus was continually changing its characteristics. So it does it mean… So one could argue that maybe the vaccines that were tested later on when this will be some of the mutants were already there might be more effective, but we don’t know.

I think at the end of the day, 80 versus 90 is not something we would decide a vaccine on. The fact that, yes, if something was only 10 percent effective versus 90 percent, it’s a probably different story. So based on the numbers we have seen, I would say whatever you can get to first, if you don’t want to get jabbed twice, maybe you go with something that goes, it’s only one dose, but that may be the only distinguishing factor here, but nevertheless, I think we have to just get the vaccination, the first vaccine that we can get our hands on.

Mary Leer:

So let’s hope there is some good that comes from the bad. Are there any noticeable trends born out of the pandemic that will be or could be a benefit to the future of cancer care or research?

Dr. Shaji Kumar:

Mary, That’s a very important question, and I think we always learn from adversity, and I think this is going to be no different. I think, especially when the pandemic hit back in the spring of last year, we all had to think fast on our feet to figure out how best to continue to tell about the best care for the cancer patients without compromising the care in any way. And we knew that bringing the patients back into the clinic at the same rate we did before the pandemic would expose them to significant risk for infection, so how do we continue with treatment? There have been very different things people have tried…one of them is to try and get the medications to patients at home. If they are on IV medications, they can be changed to something that’s comparable that can be given by mouth. We already did that for some patients. For some patients who used to come to the clinic very often, so we figure out is there a way for them to get some of those testing done in a clinic much closer to home, so they can avoid the travel, they can avoid being in a bigger city, they can avoid being in a bigger institution, again, reducing the risk of exposure, and then you look at those numbers and then decide on the next course of treatment. We converted many of the clinic visits to video visits. Nothing is as good as having the patient right in front of you, but this is the best we could do under the circumstances.

And I think that helped. So I think the clinical trials was a big problem because in many of those trials were done in a very rigid fashion with very little variability allowed within the protocols. And everybody loosened from the clinical trial sponsors, the pharmaceutical companies, the institutional review board, the investigators to try and build flexibility into those clinical trial structures to allow patients to continue to be on those trials, many of which are important and both helping. So what does that mean for the future? I think the video visits are here to stay, I think we will continue to utilize that and bring patients back to the clinic only when it’s absolutely needed. I think the clinical trials will have in-built flexibility so that patients can enroll on clinical trials remotely, they can potentially be given some of those medications at home, maybe it would be something where we would check into the patients on a regular basis to make sure things are proceeding in the right way. I think there are increasingly technologies that will allow the patients to communicate in real time with the care team and also provide many of the data that we need through iPads or iPhones, Apple watches, whatever we end up using.

So that is that I think that technology will rapidly take off in the next few years, I think. So I think a lot of the care of the patients with cancer in general, and particularly cancer patients, I think is going to look very different five years from now, because of all these things that we have always thought of and we thought, “Yeah it will take time to implement, it’s difficult.” Now we figure it out in a year. We can do a lot of those things.

Mary Leer:

Yeah, thank you.

Jeff Bushnell:

For the final question, you’ve given tremendous information here, Dr. Kumar w What’s the final takeaway for the average cancer patient and caregiver, how to get through this? What’s your bottom line for us all?

Dr. Shaji Kumar:

Bottomline is, I think Your cancer treatment comes first, let’s not compromise on it, let us do it as safe as we can by observing all the instructions in terms of social distancing, masking, avoiding gatherings, getting vaccinated, and make sure you keep connected with your care team. You don’t have to be in the clinic to do that. There’s a variety of different tools, I think every hospital has options to either through their medical records to message their care team, or set up video visits and so forth.

So we want to be in a state where it was before the pandemic in terms of your communications, but use the technology, so we can decrease the risk of exposure without compromising the quality of care.

Mary Leer:

Alright, well, thank you so much, Dr. Kumar, that you have just given us such valuable information, and I want to thank Jeff as well, and the Patient Empowerment Network for putting this together.

Jeff Bushnell:

Thank you, Dr. Kumar, appreciate it.

Dr. Kumar:

Thank you, Jeff.

Clinical Trials – Patients ARE the Pioneers

Editor’s Note: After a long and resilient battle with primary peritoneal cancer, Roberta Aberle, 53, of Auroro, CO passed away on November 1, 2017 with her husband David Oine at her side. Even as she battled her own cancer, Roberta was a tireless advocate for patient care, hoping to improve the lives of others also fighting life-threatening illnesses. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her.


“The pioneering spirit is less about thinking up new ideas as ridding ourselves of dogma and old habits that hold us captive in thinking.” Bertrand Piccard http://bertrandpiccard.com/home

Profound. Who wants to be captive in their thinking? No one I can name. Especially in the world of healthcare. Medical sciences are far surpassing dogma in many aspects of delivering care to patients – in technology, in documentation, in processes and structure, in diagnostics, in pharmaceuticals and other interventions such as surgical techniques all the way to preventative care. Some diseases have been eradicated entirely, others are manageable and have become chronic rather than life threatening.

It is invigorating to have even a small part in innovations with the potential to alter and improve the landscape of health and well-being. In last week’s broadcast of Mythbuster’s #3 – Do Patients Have a Voice While Participating in Clinical Trials? Our host, Andrew Schorr brought up the notion of being perceived as a pioneer in cancer treatment with each of our respective roles in clinical trials. Our panel was comprised of an oncologist and a clinical trial navigator (a resource who pairs patients to relevant trials)and myself, a patient advocate and participant in multiple clinical trials.

One trial in which I participated led to the provisional release of a therapy added to front line treatment for Ovarian, Fallopian Tube and Primary Peritoneal Cancer who test positive for either the BRCA 1 or 2 inherited genetic mutations. Addition of the oral medication researched has since shown astounding results for patients with these forms of cancer that prolongs disease free progression an average of 19.1 months. https://www.lynparza.com/ovarian-cancer-treatment.html

I personally never considered myself a pioneer, but in this context, I suppose it fits. Without patients, researchers and oncologists exhausting every resource to identify what can extend our life or achieve a cure for incurable forms of cancer; how can we validate new inroads to treatment?  Regardless of how it is termed, I take great pride in participating in clinical trials to prove efficacy for patients of today and the future. Pioneer. Forerunner. Research Subject. Terms mean less  to me than the knowledge that if just one patient considers a clinical trial as a result of seeing our webinar, it is validation enough my involvement matters.

Shortly after the broadcast, I was talking to a new acquaintance at a gathering about the program and my personal experience with various clinical trials. As I detailed my journey for her, she asked a time or two, so “ALL you ever did was take experimental medicines?” Communication breakdown. But yet, I was quite happy she expressed her question in the way she had so I could clarify. My response was swift, “No. In actuality, in only one clinical trial was the medication ‘‘experimental’. Other than one, I was enrolled in only Phase 3 or higher trials where the medications were known to be effective, they just needed more data to understand dosage, frequency and when to use in combination with existing chemotherapy drugs to amplify the power of each.”

Despite being in multiple clinical trials, I have yet to achieve remission and the elusive cure for my form of cancer; yet, I still chime praise for each trial I’ve been enrolled in. I consider each an opportunity a peek into the future of cancer management. While I cannot claim certain things regarding my cancer as a result of clinical trials, each one has earned me quality time with loved ones or has been a bridge to a new treatment option not available to me were it not for the commitment of researchers, oncologists and patients worldwide.

When you view the webinar rebroadcast or in summation, my hope is that you will be receptive to clinical trials as an additional avenue available to you. Beyond our specific topic of whether patients have a voice in clinical trials, in our segment, our message is clearly that patients do retain their voice during a clinical trial. Of equal importance, collectively our outcomes and first hand experiences are an even more powerful voice chiming their merits. In many ways the patient voice is important not just during, but extends long past the time parameters of trials.

https://www.patientpower.info/event/myth-busters3

MyLifeLine: Learn About Clinical Trials

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published here on MyLifeLine.org. The mission of MyLifeLine.org is to empower cancer patients and caregivers to build an online support community of family and friends to foster connection, inspiration, and healing through free, personalized websites.

Learn About Clinical Trials

MLL ACT

Why consider a cancer clinical trial?

What clinical trials can offer, from the care you receive to the impact you can make.

Clinical trials offer a chance to receive investigational medicines or procedures that experts think might improve the treatment of cancer. This important option is not limited to people who have run out of choices. In fact, there may be clinical trials for every stage of disease in dozens of cancer types. In this video, patients and doctors share their perspectives on why joining a clinical trial may be an option worth considering.


“To have the opportunity to go on a clinical trial for a patient is extremely exciting.” —Sandra Swain, MD; oncologist


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Concern:
I don’t want to be a guinea pig for an experimental treatment.
The Truth:
Cancer clinical trials are developed with high medical and ethical standards, and participants are treated with care and with respect for their rights.

Concern:
I’m afraid i might receive a sugar pill or no treatment at all.
 The Truth:Cancer clinical trials rarely use placebo alone if an effective treatment is available; doing so is unethical.

Concern:
Cancer clinical trials are only for people with no other treatment options.
 The Truth:Trials can study everything from prevention to early- and late-stage treatment, and they may be an option at any point after your diagnosis.

Concern:
I’m worried that I won’t receive quality care in a cancer clinical trial.
 The Truth:Many procedures are in place to help you receive quality care in a cancer clinical trial.

Concern:
People might access private information about me if I participate.
 The Truth:In nearly all cancer clinical trials, patients are identified by codes so that their privacy is protected throughout and after the study.

Concern:
I’m afraid that my health insurance will not help with the costs of a cancer clinical trial.
 The Truth:
Many costs are covered by insurance companies and the study sponsor, and financial support is often available to help with other expenses; talk to your doctor to understand what costs you could be responsible for.

Concern:
Informed consent only protects researchers and doctors, not patients.
 The Truth:
Informed consent is a full explanation of the trial that includes a statement that the study involves research and is voluntary, and explanations of the possible risks, the possible benefits, how your medical information may be used, and more. Informed consent does not require you to give up your right to protection if the medical team is negligent or does something wrong.

Concern:
I’m afraid that once i join a cancer clinical trial, there’s no way out.
 The Truth:
You have the right to refuse treatment in a cancer clinical trial or to stop treatment at any time without penalty

How to know if a cancer clinical trial is right for you.

There are many factors to keep in mind when considering a cancer clinical trial.

As with any important decision, it’s a good idea to think about the risks and benefits of joining a cancer clinical trial. This video encourages you to ask your medical team about all of your treatment options, including cancer clinical trials. Trial participants, doctors, and patient advocates explain the factors you’ll want to keep in mind as you consider your treatment plan.


“I’ve always advised patients…when the circumstances weren’t urgent, to take time to understand their disease and to evaluate the alternatives.”  —Sandra Horning, MD; oncologist and chief medical officer


What to ask your doctor(s)

Asking The Right Questions Keeps You Involved In Your Care

A cancer diagnosis is often overwhelming, and it’s sometimes hard to gather your thoughts and know the right questions to ask. This video talks you through some of the questions it will be helpful to ask about your cancer, your treatment options, your doctor, and about whether participating in a cancer clinical trial is right for you.


“Talk to your doctor and say, ‘Tell me my full options.’ Raise questions. Be a pain in the neck. That’s what the doctor is there for.” —Arthur Caplan, PhD; medical ethicist


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Rules And Procedures Are In Place So That You Will Receive High-Quality Care

Before a single patient can join a trial, many different experts must approve every detail of the study—from why it’s being done to how often patients should be monitored. Once the trial begins, more unbiased experts provide oversight to check that the rules of the trial are being followed and patients’ rights are protected. This video features doctors and patient rights advocates explaining the high standards by which trials are developed and run.


“I explain…that when they’re on a clinical trial, they’re going to be followed very closely by…specific guidelines.” —Daniel P. McKellar, MD; surgeon and Commission on Cancer chairman


Informed Consent Describes The Study Process, Potential Risks And Benefits, And Your Rights As A Participant

If you are eligible and decide to join a trial, you will be required to review and sign the informed consent forms. This can be an overwhelming process, but it is how you will learn all the details of the trial, including the potential benefits and the possible risks, and give your permission to be treated. This video features patients, doctors, and patient rights advocates who offer tips and insights to help you navigate the process of informed consent.


“When I received the stack of papers…it made me realize this is really serious. But then…it was actually a good feeling to know that this was not something that was being done lightly.” —Rose Gerber; trial participant


Information And Support Are Close At Hand

Because so many people have been affected by cancer, there are many reliable and helpful resources to help you through your cancer journey. In this video, trial participants and doctors help you find the people and resources that may be helpful in educating you about cancer clinical trials.


“The first thing is to hold on tight and be optimistic and to get very engaged and educated about your cancer.” —Jack Whelan; trial participant


Reliable Resources To Help Along The Way

First, talk to your doctor

Your healthcare team is the best source for information about your treatment options, including cancer clinical trials. There are many questions you’ll want to ask your healthcare team when you’re ready to discuss treatment options. Print this helpful Discussion Guide and bring it to your next appointment so that you don’t forget anything important. Record your answers on the form and keep it handy for future reference.


Where to find information about cancer clinical trials

These clinical trial resources will help you find trials that might be right for you.

  • CT and American Cancer Society (ACS) Clinical Trials Matching Service toll-free number: 877-970-7848
  • ACS Clinical Trials Matching Service
  • This free, confidential program helps patients, their families, and healthcare workers find cancer clinical trials most appropriate to a patient’s medical and personal situation. We can help you find research studies that are testing new drugs or methods to prevent, detect, or treat cancer
  • National Cancer Institute clinical trials search form
  • National Institutes of Health trial database

Support services

These trustworthy sources provide assistance with trial-related costs, which may not always be covered by insurance.

Practical support

Financial support

Additional nationwide support organizations


Don’t go it alone

There are millions of people just like you who are ready to ACT against cancer. These organizations provide advocacy, information, awareness, fundraising opportunities, and a community of like-minded people touched by cancer.

A Patient Advocate Speaks Out About Clinical Trials

Obstacles and Progress in Clinical Trials

Laura Cleveland

Laura Cleveland is a 18 yr CLL patient, an impassioned patient advocate and a peer reviewer of late phase cancer clinical trials for the NCI Institutional Review Board (IRB), with focus on trial design, accrual issues, regulatory mandates and informed consent.

Cleveland has 12 years experience in designing, evaluating, and reviewing clinical trials, and I was interested to get her thoughts on the clinical trial process, obstacles that patients face and any recent progress being made in the clinical trial arena.

Obstacles to Clinical Trial Enrollment

It is no secret that clinical trials face accrual problems. Half of all phase III clinical trials close because of insufficient accrual with only 2% of cancer patients participating. In Cleveland’s opinion, some of the biggest obstacles are:

  • The myth that clinical trials are purely experimental and that the subjects are treated as “guinea pigs”. Cleveland explained that, in trials, patients are followed much more closely than they would be in normal treatment situations and that all standards of care actually evolved from clinical trials.
  • Logistics – Enrollment is often delayed due to eligibility criteria or rules and regulations concerning testing and screening.
  • Randomization and the fear of receiving “placebos” instead of cancer medication. Cleveland explained that placebos are rarely given in cancer clinical trials. When drugs are compared, the experimental drug is compared to the Standard of Care, She went on to say that there is even a push to remove randomization from certain trials and that there are currently single arm clinical trials available.
  • Cost – If insurance does not cover the costs of extra tests and doctor visits, it can be costly for the patient. There are organizations that help with these costs, but often the patient must bear the burden of significant cost outlay.

I asked Cleveland what the one thing is that industry/government can do to make the clinical trial process easier for patients. She had a very simple 3 word answer:

“Pay for it”

Progress Being Made in the Clinical Trial Process

When asked what progress had been made recently in the clinical trial process, including enrollment, navigation and process in general, Cleveland had several comments:

  • The patient materials are becoming more understandable and easier to read. The documents are being “translated” into plain language, the informed consent form is getting shorter and less complicated. Cleveland has been working with the National Clinical Trials Network on this for the past several years.
  • Patient-friendly clinical trial results are being published so that patients can read about these trials and understand them. Cleveland has been working with the Alliance for Cancer Clinical Trials on this.
  • Cooperative Groups have been working on ways to change the consent process and clinical trial protocols. These groups get together and discuss strategy to improve the whole clinical trial process to make accrual more attractive and patient-friendly. This is a slow process but encouraging steps are being taken. Cleveland said that patients are given a clinical trial “packet” that often, they do not understand. She further explained, “There needs to be a patient-friendly summary that the patient can read and easily understand before they even attempt to read the Informed Consent form. This summary needs to be in plain language and outline the clinical trial that they are considering.” Apparently, this type of summary exists for a few clinical trials, but it needs to be the rule rather than the exception.
  • Clinical Research and Clinical Trials need to be in the vernacular. They need to become everyday words and concepts. Social media is helping in this effort. Tweets and Facebook posts help with awareness. But there needs to be more effort in this direction. Possibly, clinical research staff could visit Middle School or High School and talk to the science or health classes about trials. Children can be great advocates of causes and could bring the word home to siblings and parents. Breast Cancer groups have done a great job for breast cancer awareness; they could really help by spreading the word about breast cancer clinical trials and clinical trials in general. Much, much more needs to be done in this area. Cleveland summarized,

 “As far as getting the word out about clinical trials, it’s just not there.”

In closing, Cleveland had several words to say to patients about self-advocacy.

“Get a second opinion! Seek out a specialist in the specific disease area that you have. Find out who is doing research in that area and contact them. Use all resources available to you. You must be your own self-advocate.”

Clinical Trial Process: A Physician’s View

Interview With Dr. Jeff Sharman

Dr. Jeff Sharman is Medical Director of Hematology Research at The US Oncology Network, one of the largest networks of integrated, community-based oncology practices in the US. US Oncology includes over 1000 physicians practicing at more than 350 sites in 19 states, and treats more than 750,000 patients annually. Dr. Sharman is also on the Patient Empowerment Network Advisory Board.

The US Oncology Research Network has enrolled over 60,000 patients in about 1,400 clinical trials so far. The website offers a trial finder that will connect you with a US Oncology practice near you that has clinical trials available.

Dr. Sharman is convinced that although research adds to a physician’s workload, it enlivens a practice and adds to productivity. In a video on the US Oncology website, Sharman says US Oncology found that physicians that recruit one patient per month on average are 70% more productive than their counterparts.

I asked Dr. Sharman several questions about the clinical trial process and he was kind enough to answer.

1. From the physician perspective, what are the 3 biggest obstacles in the clinical trial process?

“Regulatory oversight has become too burdensome.  In major academic centers and cooperative groups, it can literally take YEARS to open some studies – let alone accrue the study and determine the results.  Often the key scientific questions have changed before the study is executed and the results are no longer relevant by the time they are answered.  It is a case of “death by good intentions” to see such caution in clinical trials, but unfortunately, patients are dying while studies are acquiring the requisite signatures to get started.  In community practice, we are able to cut start up time to a small fraction of our academic counterparts, but the oncology practice environment these days makes it hard to fully engage in both clinical medicine and research.  Eligible patients are often not enrolled in clinical trials that are available at their own site because physicians are not able to slow down enough to connect the dots.”

2. What is the one thing that industry/government can do to make the clinical trial process easier? Why don’t they do it?

“Reduce the barriers to enrolling patients on clinical trials at the Medicare level and possibly even provide greater incentive to sites for quality research participation.  Medicare Advantage plans until recently had regulations that actually INCREASED the cost to patients to enroll on clinical trials.  Patients had higher copay (went from 10% to 20%) AND they lost maximum cap guarantee.  It was a powerful DISINCENTIVE to clinical trial participation.  That has been improved however Medicare is currently adopting numerous quality measures in reimbursement models to practicing physicians.  Research engagement could easily be included in these quality measures and would powerfully encourage participation.  Policies that are adopted by Medicare are often followed by major insurance carriers so there could be a spill over effect.”

3. Who are the major influencers in this arena? (This includes patients, advocates, industry, government and HCPs)

“Right now, virtually all power resides with the pharmaceutical companies.  They are the only entities with the budgets to sponsor clinical trials.  Government funding and grant agencies probably account for less than 10% of current clinical research in oncology.  Government could create tax incentives for pharmaceutical companies to provide research opportunities to investigators for more investigator initiated studies.”

4. What are the major positive changes that have been made to the clinical trial  process in the past 2 years?

“The agents used currently in clinical trials are based upon a far more detailed understanding of cancer biology than the cancer drugs of only 10 years ago.  With greater precision, drugs are often more effective with fewer side effects.  Furthermore, we are far more capable of understanding the unique biology of an individual’s cancer.  In the past, we might just call a disease by a specific name, but now we can often find the unique molecular heterogeneity within a single patients cancer.  This allows us to explore investigational therapies that may be unique to an individual patient.”

5. What is US Oncology Network doing in the way of clinical trial awareness for doctors and patients?

“Our network will enroll over 4000 patients to clinical trials this year alone.    US Oncology is a management organization for many practices and through thoughtful leadership enhanced the role of research within many practices.  US Oncology research has dramatically improved relationships with sponsors and sites to bring the best clinical trials to patients.  I could talk for hours on this.”

Thank you, Dr. Jeff Sharman and US Oncology!

Please discuss your treatment options with your medical team.