How can we improve clinical trial participation for people with cancer? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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If you have recently been diagnosed with cancer, your best bet for treatment may include enrolling in a clinical trial, where new treatments are being assessed, usually by comparing them with standard treatment. Yet a new study finds that under 2% of people with cancer who received Medicare benefits enrolled. William Nelson, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, thinks location may be important.

Nelson: if you’re located reasonably far from a site where clinical trials are available that’s a significant barrier. I think one of the solutions may ultimately be to push out some of the accessibility of clinical trials via a model that we can deploy all kinds of things to your home when you buy them. Experimental drugs will have to be overseen carefully but can we do that from a center and have them deployed nearer the home, along with collaborative physicians and small cancer centers.  :30

Nelson says it’s worth looking for a trial that may help you and that may already be available in your locality. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.