Pharmatech Oncology has received award for its phase II Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) project, entitled A Patient Centered Approach to Enrolling Rare Cancer Patients in Clinical Trials, to be funded through the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Pharmatech Oncology has developed an innovative enrollment methodology called Just-In-Time (JIT) to improve enrollment rates into cancer clinical trials, which often see significant delays due to slow patient enrollment. The major challenge in developing more effective anti-cancer drugs is the time it takes to complete clinical trials demonstrating the safety and efficacy of investigational new drugs. With only an estimated three to five per cent of adult cancer patients participating in clinical trials, and potentially even fewer being offered the opportunity, JIT provides patients with on-demand access to cancer clinical trials and investigational treatments.

In phase I of the SBIR project, Pharmatech Oncology demonstrated that cancer trial enrollment rates can be increased by making specific clinical trials available to a network of research ready centers. The JIT enrollment model puts patients first in the research process, prioritizing selection of the most appropriate therapy, and utilizing highly efficient workflow to enroll individual cancer patients into a trial in 10 days or less.

The phase II project addresses the scalability of the JIT enrollment methodology as an industry-wide solution, but even more exciting is its focus on aligning patient genetic and molecular characteristics with personalized therapy. The principal investigator of the project, Dr Matthew Wiener, believes, “The JIT enrollment methodology is ideally positioned to support the development of targeted cancer medicine by helping oncologists to select the right drugs for the right patients at the right time.”

“With the continued support of the NCI through the SBIR programme, Pharmatech Oncology is now positioned to advance this innovative approach in partnership with the other stakeholders in cancer research: the trial sponsors, research and advocacy organizations, the haematology-oncology professional community, and most of all cancer patients,” said Dr Wiener. “We want every cancer patient to have the best treatment options, including these advanced clinical trials.”

Pharmatech Oncology, is a Contract Research Organization (CRO) that specializes in creating efficiency in cancer clinical trials. It provides a patient centered approach for the investigational treatment of cancer by organizing and directing the entire research process, from start to finish.