The first clinical trial of a drug or medical device to be funded by the National Institutes of Health is underway in the US, and scientists have identified two areas that will test its effectiveness.
The first is a study looking at how a drug would help people with cancer survive after they’ve been treated.
The second is an early phase of a new drug that’s meant to reduce the chance of new cancers arising.
The National Cancer Institute is funding the trial at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
“There are some really interesting things happening in the field,” said Dr Andrew Yoon, a researcher in the Brigham and Woman’s Cancer Institute (BCCI) and the lead author of the study.
“The first phase of the trial is looking at the survival of people with metastatic breast cancer, and we found that it’s possible to prevent a lot of the cancer from spreading.”
The team is looking for biomarkers to help them predict whether a drug might work in the treatment of cancer, or whether the drug might help prevent the spread of the disease.
“This is a very big field, but the big question is, ‘Can you measure that?'”
Dr Yoon said.
“I think that this could be one of the most interesting areas in the future of clinical medicine.”
The trial is led by Dr Daniel Dittrich, who also runs the BCCI’s Center for Cancer Research and Treatment.
The group has identified two large, uncontrolled trials, in the form of the Micekull and Stomach Cancer Prevention Trials, which were started in 2013 and 2017 respectively.
In both, the researchers looked at how the drug or treatment might help people in the first three months after being treated with a new cancer.
But in both, there were problems with the trials, and the results could not be replicated.
“If you look at both of those studies, there’s a real question mark about whether it would be safe and effective,” Dr Yun said.
Dr Dittbury said there were a number of issues with both the Mosekull trial and the Stomach Canceral trial, which he said were not well designed.
“One of the issues we had with both of these trials is that they didn’t look at whether they were delivering the benefits of a treatment that they were given or whether they might actually be causing harm,” he said.
The researchers are also looking at a new type of trial called a randomized trial.
This is a trial where people are given a drug that is proven effective, and then asked to follow it for a period of time.
But the drugs don’t always work exactly as expected.
“It’s the same problem that we’ve had with the Mirekull,” Dr Dettbury said.
This trial will compare the effectiveness of a group of new drugs to the efficacy of a control group.
In the Mizekull study, the group of people receiving the drug didn’t live longer than people given a placebo.
In fact, people who took the drug had a significantly lower risk of developing cancer.
The study also showed that people who received the drug experienced fewer side effects than those who didn’t.
But Dr Dettsbury said the Masekull could be a better choice.
“We think that if we could find a drug for people who are in a similar clinical situation to what they’re in with metastases, and if they could reduce the number of people who get cancer, then we would be better off,” he explained.
“But it’s also important to note that these are very small trials, so we don’t have any data about the actual effect size.”
The researchers hope to find a vaccine to stop the spread and reduce the risk of more cancers arising from this type of treatment.
They will also look at the impact of the treatment on the people who take part in the trials.
“When you look over time at the people that are taking part in these trials, you might think that it is not doing much for them.
But if you look back at what people are spending money on and how much money they’re spending on treatments, it is really doing a lot,” Dr Staudenhuys said.
While these trials have a long way to go before they can be replicated, they are important because they could help to narrow down what treatments are best for people in need of a cancer treatment.
The research team are also planning to look at other types of clinical trials, such as those looking at new medicines, vaccines and treatments for heart disease, diabetes and asthma.
But for now, the focus is on one aspect of clinical research: how to find drugs that work for patients.
