(Yale Rosen / Flickr)
A suburban doctor says a national study on cancer treatments he is involved in is “unprecedented” in its scope. And for some cancer patients who have run out of treatment options, it may be a beacon of hope.
Dr. Eugene Ahn, medical director of clinical research at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Zion, said the clinical trial, dubbed the Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) study, “provides more treatment options for patients who are often told they don’t have any other options.”
The study takes an individualized approach to treating certain advanced-stage cancers.
Traditionally, cancers are classified and treated based on their origins, but Ahn said that mutations “driving the growth” are also important to consider.
Through advances in cancer research, scientists are discovering common mutations in different types of cancer. For example, a patient’s lung cancer can have the same genomic mutation as another person’s melanoma. Since these two cancers share the same mutation, they may benefit from the same treatment, including the use of FDA-approved drugs that many not be approved for more than one type of cancer.
“The TAPUR study aims to see if [the drugs] will work in other cancer types with the same mutations,” said Ahn.
Learn more about the TAPUR study in the video below.
All patients enrolled in the study will have access to targeted anti-cancer drugs at no cost, and if the treatment proves to be effective, the patient can continue receiving it for free.
“It’s important to offer more treatment options born out of conventional options when dealing with metastatic [cancers],” Ahn said.
The 17 different FDA-approved anti-cancer drugs are being provided by seven pharmaceutical companies, which will receive data from the study that could be used to “inform research and development plans and life-cycle management,” according to a TAPUR study factsheet.
Enrollment for the trial is already underway at more than two dozen sites, including Midwestern Regional Medical Center in Zion.
Patients interested in participating in the TAPUR study should consult with their physicians and decide if a genomic test should performed. (Note: Genomic testing is required to participate in the study but is not provided as part of the study.) For more information about eligibility criteria, click here.
“One thing that we always want to do at CTCA is give our patients more options and the TAPUR study is unprecedented in the number of drugs that can be offered to patients,” said Ahn, who is the lead TAPUR trial investigator at CTCA at Midwestern.
Follow Kristen Thometz on Twitter: @kristenthometz
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