Announcement
In a first of its kind collaboration, research staff from two Welsh Hospitals came together in 2017 to plan the joint delivery of a complex clinical trial for cancer patients. Their efforts have paid off for Welsh patients, and have resulted in being shortlisted for a prestigious Nursing Times award.
Forty-seven delegates from across the research landscape (regulators, trials units, researchers, patients, trust R&D, funders and sponsors) came together on the 27 June 2018 to start work on producing a consensus paper about how we can streamline and promote innovative trials in the UK. The term innovative trials encompasses Platform, Umbrella, Basket, Complex , Adaptive and Modular trials.
NHS England with the NIHR are aiming to create a process that costs a multi-centre commercial project once only. The ambition being that this will speed up the set-up time and equalise out the variance in costs up and down the country, making the UK a more attractive place to bring research.
In June 2018, two currently open trials within the CRUK Combinations Alliance Portfolio have successfully defined their recommended phase 2 dose within the Dose Escalation Phase of the Trial, and have now opened their randomised expansion cohorts to patients in the target cancer type and setting via the ECMC network.
A clinical trial testing a new treatment combination in patients with leukaemia launches through the Combinations Alliance(link is external), a joint initiative between Cancer Research UK and our ECMC network, today.
Research nurses are a vital part of the ECMC network and last month (April), the Programme Office held a training day for research nurses who are new to working in early phase cancer research. The aim of the day was to equip new early phase research nurses to deliver high quality, patient-centred care, within the regulatory framework. Twenty-five new research nurses were joined by eleven senior research nurses in Edinburgh to share their experiences and any apprehensions about such a demanding role.
To celebrate International Clinical Trials Day 2018 the Cancer Research UK Centre for Drug Development (CDD) are recognising staff who work across clinical trials by awarding them with a 'CDD Clinical Trial Heroes Award'. This years recipients include members from the ECMC network.
Due to the large number of applications received, the HRA are bringing forward the next round of recruitment for MPEs and CREs to register to become HRA Radiation Assurance Reviewers. The closing date for applications is Friday 6th April.
The Combinations Alliance partners with the ECMC Network to drive new combination therapies, including drug-radiotherapy combinations. ECMC studies such as PIONEER and PARADIGM-2 have been previously highlighted as successes in this area.