• HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
Saturday, April 17, 2021
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Science

SWOG expands cancer clinical trial access for US military veterans

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
November 3, 2016
in Science
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram
IMAGE

Credit: SWOG

PORTLAND, OR – For the second year, SWOG, the cancer clinical trials network, and its charity, The Hope Foundation, are providing $125,000 to five U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers to expand access to cancer clinical trials.

Under the VA Integration Support Program, medical centers receive $25,000 in seed funding to help them enroll veterans in trials run by SWOG and other members of the National Cancer Institute's National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN). This means more veterans can enroll in research studies featuring cutting-edge medicines. The publicly funded NCTN offers well over 200 open trials at any given time, trials testing prevention and treatment strategies for a variety of cancers, including lung, prostate, and colorectal cancers – the most common forms in veterans.

Winners of the VA Integration Support Program awards for 2016 are:

  • James J. Peters VA Medical Center, Bronx, NY
  • Orlando VA Medical Center, Orlando, FL
  • Portland VA Health Care System, Portland, OR
  • VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA
  • Richard J. Roudebush VA Medical Center, Indianapolis, IN

Last year, SWOG and The Hope Foundation awarded funds to these VA centers:

  • Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, Little Rock, AR
  • Cincinnati VA Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH
  • Durham VA Medical Center, Durham, NC
  • VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System, Denver, CO
  • VA New York Harbor Healthcare System, Manhattan Campus, New York, NY

Clinical trials are an important option for any cancer patient managing their disease. Trials test new treatments, and are sometimes the only way to access immunotherapies or precision medicines. For many reasons, most stemming from a lack of time and money, veterans' ability to join trials sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and other groups has decreased dramatically.

SWOG and The Hope Foundation are working to turn that trend around, and their efforts are paying off. Winners of the 2015 VA Integration Support Program grants have expanded the hours of current research staff or hired new staff to process paperwork, screen patients, or collect tissue or other biological samples needed to take part in trials.

As a result, 13 NCTN trials are now open to veterans at these sites, including the landmark Lung-MAP precision medicine trial testing new drugs for squamous cell lung cancer. Soon, the NCI-MATCH trial will also be available at some sites. Veterans are responding to the increasing access. About 50 have been screened for trial participation, and 12 have enrolled.

One is Jerry Valentino, a lung cancer patient who joined SWOG's Lung-MAP trial through the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. Valentino, a 70-year-old Vietnam War veteran, has experienced no side effects from his trial drug and is responding well to treatment. Scans show his cancer is gone – and hasn't returned.

"Trials are the only way we know if drugs work or they don't," Valentino said. "It feels good to be part of the system that is moving medicine forward. This program is really helping veterans – and by all means they deserve it."

Dr. Charles Blanke, SWOG group chair, agrees. Blanke created the VA Integration Support Program to help veterans and support the NCTN. Groups in the NCTN – SWOG, Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group, NRG Oncology, and Children's Oncology Group – are a major part of the nation's cancer research infrastructure and enroll tens of thousands of patients each year. All five groups are funded by the National Cancer Institute, and constitute the oldest and largest cancer research network in the nation.

"I am pleased with our progress and impact one year into this new program," Blanke said. "We are doing what we'd hoped to do – make great cancer trials available to veterans. Consideration of a clinical trial is a hallmark of excellent cancer care, and our veterans deserve the very best."

###

For information on the VA Integration Support Program, contact Morgan Cox at The Hope Foundation at (734) 998-6887 or [email protected]

SWOG is part of the National Cancer Institute's National Clinical Trials Network, the nation's oldest and largest cancer research network, and is a major part of the cancer research infrastructure in the U.S. and the world. SWOG has over 12,000 members in 46 states and six foreign countries who design and conduct cancer clinical trials to improve the lives of people with cancer. Founded in 1956, SWOG's 1,300 trials have led to the approval of 14 cancer drugs, changed more than 100 standards of cancer care, and saved more than 2 million years of human life. Learn more at swog.org.

The Hope Foundation is a public charity that supports SWOG's work by providing funds for research grants and fellowships, physician education, clinical trial support, and patient advocacy.

Media Contact

Wendy Lawton
[email protected]
503-348-8675
@SWOG

http://swog.org

Share12Tweet7Share2ShareShareShare1

Related Posts

Five or more hours of smartphone usage per day may increase obesity

July 25, 2019
IMAGE

NASA’s terra satellite finds tropical storm 07W’s strength on the side

July 25, 2019

NASA finds one burst of energy in weakening Depression Dalila

July 25, 2019

Researcher’s innovative flood mapping helps water and emergency management officials

July 25, 2019

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

POPULAR NEWS

  • IMAGE

    Jonathan Wall receives $1.79 million to develop new amyloidosis treatment

    60 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15
  • Terahertz accelerates beyond 5G towards 6G

    852 shares
    Share 341 Tweet 213
  • A sturdier spike protein explains the faster spread of coronavirus variants

    44 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 11
  • UofL, Medtronic to develop epidural stimulation algorithms for spinal cord injury

    56 shares
    Share 22 Tweet 14

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Tags

University of WashingtonVaccineWeather/StormsVirusVirologyWeaponryVaccinesUrbanizationVehiclesUrogenital SystemZoology/Veterinary ScienceViolence/Criminals

Recent Posts

  • New amphibious centipede species discovered in Okinawa and Taiwan
  • USU researchers develop power converter for long-distance, underwater electric grids
  • The fate of the planet
  • The future of particle accelerators is here
  • Contact Us

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In