Lack of clinical trial volunteers slowing research
Jan 30, 2013, 10:17 AM | Updated: 12:29 pm
Shawn Helbig took part in a clinical trial to find a treatment for a genetic condition. (AP Photo/Rich Addicks)
(AP Photo/Rich Addicks)
Researchers in the Seattle area complain that trouble recruiting volunteers for clinical trials is delaying crucial research for months, sometimes for more than a year.
A pharmaceutical industry group, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America published findings Tuesday showing that more than 370 clinical trials in Washington are recruiting participants.
University of Washington oncology researcher Nora Disis concedes it can be a tough sell trying to convince people to participate in a phase one study, in which the safety of a new drug is evaluated, telling a volunteer that he or she is the first human to get the treatment.
“It’s very hard to get people to agree to do a phase one study because it really is an altruistic effort to be at the very beginning of this process,” said Disis.
But Disis says people need to understand that breakthroughs in genetic understanding in how the disease starts, impossible without clinical trials, have led to drugs that have changed the way cancer is treated.
“And the greatest need we have in the development of new drugs, especially for oncology, is finding those patients who would be willing to be in that pathway.”
In 2000, Stephanie Ninaud participated in the first of several trials after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“I knew I was getting a chance to contribute to a body of scientific evidence that could make a difference in future breast cancer treatment and I may be getting something that may work better than the current treatment,” she reasoned.
Today, she is cancer free, although she concedes she can’t necessarily credit the clinical trials for her remission.
Anna Gotlieb, executive director of Gilda’s Club Seattle, which supports programs for cancer survivors says that while 20 percent of cancer patients are eligible for cancer trials, enrollment by adults is typically 3-5 percent.
Part of the problem, say the promoters of clinical trials, is that certain trials have strict qualifications. But a survey shows that the primary reason most people don’t participate is that they’ve never been asked.
