Carle Cancer Center is one of only 12 community oncology practices in the country to receive honors from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) for improving care by participating in clinical trials. ASCO’s 2006 Clinical Trial Participation Award was presented this weekend to Carle Cancer Center at ASCO’s 42nd Annual Meeting in Atlanta, GA.
“In 2005, hundreds of women and men from central Illinois committed to helping search for better cancer diagnosis and treatment options,” said Kendrith Rowland, MD, head of cancer research at Carle Clinic Association. “We have committed to the patients that we will continue to search for superior treatments,” he explains, “The medical community couldn’t make advancements without these local volunteers.”
Nationally, less than 5% of adult patients with cancer are enrolled in clinical trials, and this lack of participation slows progress in the development of new therapies. But in 2005, Carle Cancer Center enrolled 390 patients onto clinical trials, enabling them to receive cutting-edge cancer therapies. Carle Clinic has more than 190 clinical cancer trials in more than 24 different cancer types, including breast, prostate, and lung cancers. As well as symptom management trials and cancer prevention studies.
“Today, more than 10 million cancer survivors are living in the U.S. and many of them owe their survival to those who took part in clinical trials before then,” said Joseph S. Bailes, MD, Interim Executive Vice President and CEO of ASCO. “However, few people know about clinical trials and their potential benefits. Carle Clinic is to be commended for increasing awareness and participation in clinical trials in their community.”
Clinical trials are research studies for patients to evaluate whether a new therapy is safe, effective, and better than the current standard. The impressive advances in cancer treatment over the last 30 years can be traced directly to clinical trials that evaluated new cancer therapies.
The award winners were selected based on many factors including patient accrual to clinical trials over a three-year period. Special consideration was given to practices that increased research participation among underrepresented populations, as well as practices that used innovative techniques to overcome barriers to the enrollment of cancer patients onto clinical trials. Carle Cancer Center’s research professionals such as nurses, pharmacists, social workers and others walk patients through every step of treatments and because of that work are recognized at the national level.
“This success relates to our refusal to accept the current status quo in community cancer care. We are driven to provide more advanced therapies as soon as possible for our patients,” added Rowland.