Research

Providence Regional Cancer Partnership's Cancer Research

Patients at the Cancer Partnership will have the opportunity to take part in some of the country's most exciting clinical research. Currently, the program has 15 physician investigators in medical, radiation, surgical and thoracic oncology, and more than 20 trials are available, including Phase III and IV national trials. Close to 10 percent of Providence Everett’s cancer patients participated in research trials in 2005 and 2006 versus the national average of three percent at comparable size centers. Providence Everett’s cancer program is one of the only two non-University centers in Washington state nominated to compete for a national clinical trial participation award.

About Clinical Research
Types of Clinical Trials
Clinical Trial Phases
Clinical Trial Oversight
Facts and Figures

About Clinical Research
Clinical trials are research studies in which patients have access to new medications to improve their health and cancer care. Each study tries to answer scientific questions and to find better ways to prevent, diagnose, or treat cancer. It also helps keep physicians on top of new developments and advances in cancer care.

Types of Clinical Trials

• Treatment trials test new treatments such as a new cancer drug, new approaches to surgery or radiation therapy, new combinations of treatments, or new methods.
• Prevention trials test new approaches, such as medicines, vitamins, minerals, or other supplements that doctors believe may lower the risk of a certain type of cancer. These trials look for the best way to prevent cancer in people who have never had cancer or to prevent cancer from coming back or a new cancer occurring in people who have already had cancer.
• Screening trials test the best way to detect cancer, especially in its early stages.
• Quality of Life trials explore ways to improve comfort and quality of life for cancer patients.
  More information is available at:  National Cancer Institute

Clinical Trial Phases
Most clinical research that involves the testing of a new drug progresses in a series of steps called phases. This allows researchers to ask and answer questions in a way that results in reliable information about the drug and protects the patients. Clinical trials are usually classified into one of four phases:

• Phase I — Find the right drug dose.
  These first studies in people evaluate how a new drug should be given (by mouth, injected into the blood, or injected into the muscle), how often, and what dose is safe. 
• Phase II — Find out the efficacy of the drug.
  A Phase II trial continues to test the safety of the drug, and begins to evaluate how well the new drug works. Phase II studies usually focus on a particular type of cancer.
• Phase III — Find out if the drug saves life.
  These studies test a new drug, or a new combination of drugs, in comparison to the current standard. A participant will usually be assigned to the standard group or the new group at random. Phase III trials often enroll large numbers of people and may be conducted at many doctors' offices, clinics, and cancer centers nationwide and worldwide.
• Phase IV — Find out if there are any additional side effects.
  After a treatment has been approved and is being marketed, it is studied in a Phase IV trial to evaluate side effects that were not apparent in the Phase III trial. Thousands of people are involved in a Phase IV trial.

Clinical Trial Oversight
An Institutional Review Board/Independent Ethics Committee (IRB/IEC), also known as ethical review board, is a group that has been formally designated to review and monitor biomedical and behavioral research involving human subjects. In accordance with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS) regulations, an IRB has the authority to approve, require modifications in (to secure approval), or disapprove research. An IRB performs critical oversight functions for research conducted on human subjects that are scientific, ethical, and regulatory.

Facts and Figures
Men: One out of every two men will develop cancer in their lifetime National Cancer Institute

Women: One out of every three women will develop cancer in their lifetime National Cancer Institute