Within the NHS we are running several clinical trials of new treatments that you may be asked to take part in. The advantages are that you are helping to answer an important question by taking part, and you may get a potentially beneficial drug or other treatment before it becomes widely available. You also get more closely monitored. Disadvantages are that there may be unexpected side effects and we don’t know whether the ‘new’ treatment is better than the standard treatment. Please ask your oncologist about clinical trials, although if there is one available for which you are suitable they are likely to have mentioned it.
I am actively involved in research in the following areas:
- Functional Imaging of cancer – Looking for novel ways to assess whether treatment is effective, and ways to assess treatment effect early (days/weeks)
FIREARC TRIAL – Recruiting through 2017 for rectal cancer
- Combining new chemotherapies and biological therapies with radiotherapy.
PIONEER TRIAL – Olaparib with capecitabine and radiation for locally advanced pancreas cancer.
Other Trials currently recruiting or about to open as of September 2016:
ARISTOTLE – For locally advanced rectal cancer
PLATO TRIALS – ACT3, ACT4, ACT5 – Anal cancer
CORE – Conventional treatment with or without SBRT (stereotactic radiotherapy) for oligometastatic breast, lung, prostate cancers.
ESPAC-5F – feasibility study in borderline resectable pancreas cancer.
INTERAACT – chemotherapy trial for metastatic anal cancer.
Immodulon IMM-101 “basket” study – Immunotherapy combination treatment – In set up
SCOPE-2 TRIAL – Dose escalation of chemoradiotherapy in oesophageal cancer.
Please contact me if you are interested in these research projects. Information about the individual studies themselves can be found online.