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Our goals… are to expand the number of drugs studied, to speed up the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) process, increase the number of published papers, and in so doing, strive to improve cure rates.
The Women’s Cancer Research Foundation (WCRF) is one of the few organizations in the country that can manage the entire new drug development process. There are approximately 400 new cancer medications “in the pipeline.” Evaluating these new medications is a complicated, multi-year process that includes the following:
• DRUG SCREENING
• PROTOCOL DESIGN
• CLINICAL TRIALS
• DATA MANAGEMENT AND ANALYSIS
• FDA INVESTIGATIONAL NEW DRUG APPLICATION
• NETWORK MAINTENANCE
DRUG SCREENING
WCRF is one of the only organizations in the country that can quickly and effectively evaluate the prospects of novel new cancer drugs. This requires understanding the biochemistry and pharmacology of these compounds and assessing “test tube,” animal and preliminary human data. It involves meeting with the senior biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and academic researchers that are involved in trying to assess the activity of these compounds in humans. For every 20 compounds that WCRF assesses, one is a reasonable candidate for further clinical study. This is a very time consuming process for which there is no compensation. Merging this information with extensive clinical experience allows WCRF to choose the three or four most promising new medications each year that will then be studied in a clinical trial.
PROTOCOL DESIGN
The physicians and research staff at WCRF have designed many research protocols for major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. This requires highly experienced and knowledgeable personnel to be able to complete this process. This involves thousands of hours of WCRF researcher time annually. WCRF is one of the few organizations in the country that has this capability. There is no compensation for this step of the research process. WCRF is dedicated to its mission.
CLINICAL TRIALS
Our WCRF team is committed to providing an opportunity for many of our patients to participate in clinical trials. WCRF designs trials that are cutting edge and able to provide many of our patients the opportunity to enroll in novel treatment regimens in the hope that we can improve cure rates. These clinical trials can take several years to complete and must be executed with precision in order to produce data that is conclusive.
DATA MANAGEMENT AND ANALYSIS
WCRF employs a full time research director, research nurses, and data managers who coordinate our clinical trials. They monitor all of the patients closely and provide constant care and support for them during their involvement in the respective trials. When a specific trial closes due to sufficient enrollment, the WCRF data is collated and then evaluated by our full time WCRF Ph.D. who categorizes, analyzes and prepares the data for journal publication.
FDA INVESTIGATIONAL NEW DRUG APPLICATION
WCRF is one of the only research foundations in the country that holds its own Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Investigational New Drug application for projects. Very few organizations are able to collect the data and format it for analysis under the strict guidelines of the FDA.
JOURNAL PUBLICATION WRITING / REVIEW
WCRF averages 12 research publications per year and we expect to maintain this pace in the future. The majority of our research is published in premier peer review journals, such as Gynecologic Oncology and the International Journal of Gynecological Cancer. The Research staff reviews numerous publications looking for novel approaches to treating some of WCRF patient’s situations and shares his findings that have at times led to life saving measures.
NETWORK MAINTENANCE
WCRF is comprised of physician research groups throughout the United States. This includes many of the finest gynecologic oncologists in the world. WCRF researchers include present and former Directors of Gynecologic Oncology at major cancer centers such as USC, UCSF, Scripps, Cedars-Sinai, Tulane, City of Hope, UCLA, and other major medical institutions.
WCRF coordinates 15 - 20 clinical trials investigating novel agents in the treatment of ovarian, endometrial (uterine) and cervical cancer. Managing Institutional Review Board (IRB) approvals, research grant applications, research funding distribution, personnel issues, and other “nuts and bolts” aspects of this nationwide group is a major administrative, accounting and legal task.
Cure rates of WCRF patients
are higher than national average.
Source: Hoag 2005 Cancer Center Report
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