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Clinical trials are changing the face of cancer
Serena Wee explains why clinical trials are key to improving cancer care
Immunotherapy is an emerging type of treatment that uses the body ’ s own immune system to fight cancer cells .
While knowledge of cancer and early treatments have been around for thousands of years , it ’ s only within the last two centuries that significant advances in cancer treatment have taken place . From surgery and radiation therapy to the latest in immunotherapy , all these advances started with the most important building block – research and clinical trials . With the launch of our broadened clinical trials programme at Icon Cancer Centre in Singapore , which is part of Icon ’ s international research function , I wanted to share a little about the role of clinical trials and their incredible contribution to the future of cancer care .
Clinical trials seek to answer and solve scientific questions in the hopes that we can discover new and improved ways to treat , prevent , and even eliminate cancer . New drug treatments are typically tested and developed through four clinical trial phases . In the early phases , the new drug or regime is tested in a small number of participants to safely assess effectiveness . Moving through the phases , the number of people participating increases , and more data is collected , such as any side effects or comparisons with standard treatments . The purpose is to form evidence-based findings that may eventually lead to new treatments being available for patients with cancer .
Outside of drug-based clinical trials , there are also unique research studies that focus on supporting the development of new treatment practices and guidelines and comparing the effectiveness of existing treatments . In 1995 , a new radiation therapy technique , known as stereotactic radiation therapy , was invented . By using precise technology that targets radiation directly at the cancer , stereotactic radiation therapy can be delivered in one to five treatments compared to traditional radiation therapy which delivers smaller doses over many weeks . This milestone evolution could not have been possible without extensive research studies and multidisciplinary clinical teams undertaking a wide range of controlled tests , comparisons , and data analysis .
So what ’ s next in cancer research ? Immunotherapy is an emerging type of treatment that uses the body ’ s own immune system to fight cancer cells . In 1992 , the clinical antibody Herceptin was developed in a trial that Icon was heavily involved in . Herceptin is regarded as a revolutionary immunotherapy treatment for breast cancer and today is effectively used to treat HER2 positive breast cancer .
There are many other kinds of immunotherapy like Herceptin that all work to slow the growth and spread of cancer cells . Some examples include checkpoint inhibitors , medicines that help the immune system respond more strongly to a tumour , and CAR-T cell therapy , where a patient ’ s T-cells ( a type of immune system cell ) are altered to allow them to effectively target and attack cancer cells within the body . Immunotherapy continues to represent an innovative and promising approach to cancer treatment , with many Phase 1 trials currently focussing on the advancement of this therapy .
We ’ re also seeing incredible advances being made in the field of radiation therapy as technology continues to evolve , with research studies playing a significant role in driving this forward . For example , artificial intelligence ( AI ) is increasingly being used to improve the precision
64 JUNE 2021 GlobalHealthAsiaPacific . com