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Marshfield Clinic offers clinical trial for pancreatic cancer
Marshfield Clinic is the first site in Wisconsin to offer people with locally advanced pancreatic cancer the opportunity to participate in a clinical trial with a new type of treatment. Pancreatic cancer affects more than 30,000 people in the United States each year. A person’s survival is significantly reduced if cancer has progressed and is not amenable to surgery. Most pancreatic cancer is discovered when it has advanced and surgery is no longer an option.
A new treatment for pancreatic cancer is desperately needed, said M. Qaseem Khan, M.D., the principal investigator on the study. “We are continually investigating options and evaluating novel treatment approaches to improve survival and quality of life for people with pancreatic cancer,” he said. “The usual treatment for pancreatic cancer, that is not treatable through surgery, is chemotherapy and radiation.”
This study will compare the standard of care treatment of chemotherapy and radiation to a novel therapy using TNFerade™, a biologic agent, in addition to the standard chemotherapy and radiation. Subsequently, a maintenance regimen will be continued for all participants. This is in keeping with the best known treatment for pancreatic cancer.
TNFerade™ is gene transfer therapy that stimulates the production of tumor necrosis factor, a naturally occurring protein that promotes tumor cell death. TNFerade™ will be directly injected into the tumor. It is important to deliver the treatment directly to the tumor for it to be most effective, Dr. Khan said. In an earlier study, some people who were in the group that received TNFerade™ had their tumors decrease in size to make them eligible for surgery.
Participation in this study, which is open to people who meet specific eligibility criteria, is completely voluntary. Half of the patients enrolled in this trial will receive TNFerade™, while half will not. The two groups will be compared to determine if TNFerade™ therapy is beneficial to patients with advanced pancreatic cancer that is untreatable by surgery.
Nationally, approximately 20 research centers will participate in this Phase II trial, which is now available through Marshfield Clinic Marshfield Center. “Phase II clinical trials determine if the new treatment being studied is helpful and safe at the dose being studied,” said Paula Nesbitt, R.N., O.C.N., an oncology research nurse working on the study through Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation’s Clinical Research Center.
Marshfield Clinic has more than 400 open clinical trials studying prevention, treatment and symptom management for a wide variety of disorders and diseases. More information on clinical trials is provided through the Clinical Research Center (CRC). For further information on this or any cancer-related studies available through Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, please call 1-877-438-1711.
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