In her interview on the Today programme, Tessa Jowell talked about adaptive clinical trials. Find out more
Traditional clinical trials test only one drug or different aspect of treatment at a time and take several years to produce results – positive or negative.
In an adaptive clinical trial, researchers can add in new drugs or combinations of therapies in response to a patient’s improved or deteriorating condition.
We are determined to see more people affected with brain tumours have access to and take part in clinical trials.
To accomplish this aim, we have created this funding opportunity to promote the establishment of brain tumour trial infrastructure.
This will facilitate an increase in the number of brain tumour clinical trials, permit more newly diagnosed people to enter trials, make the United Kingdom a more attractive place to open trials, and increase availability of banked brain tumour tissue for research.
If you have been diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour and given no hope of a cure, it is very difficult to understand why you shouldn’t be allowed to try new treatments or combinations of treatments that might extend your life.
This lack of flexibility in clinical trials has been one factor in historically slow progress towards more effective treatments for high-grade brain tumours.
These tumours progress very quickly – there is simply not enough time for a patient to take part in different trials, each of which tests a single potential treatment.
We support the development and funding of more adaptive clinical trials for patients with high-grade brain tumours.
BIOMEDE is the UK’s first adaptive trial for children with a brain tumour
Led by Dr Darren Hargrave and funded by The Brain Tumour Charity, the international trial will test improved treatments for children diagnosed with DIPG – one of the most deadly and aggressive childhood brain cancers
It will cost us over £100,000 to fund this adaptive clinical trial – with your help we can run more