START Center launches ‘hub’ to help patients and doctors find cancer trials

Texas’ START Center for Cancer Research has launched a platform to help patients, advocacy groups, and physicians find oncology drug trials.

The platform — called the START Hope Hub — is designed to provide information about early-phase trials taking place at one of START’s network of sites in Europe and the US. Users can search by location, disease type, medical condition, and study identifiers to find an appropriate program.

Advocacy groups can use the hub to share real-time information about clinical trials with their communities, aiming to encourage participation.

Accessing early phase cancer trials is a challenge, according to START CEO Nick Slack, who says the problem is that, rather than being based in communities, the majority are concentrated at academic research centers.

“Since day one, we have believed that comprehensive cancer care, which includes trials, should be available to all patients and physicians, not just those in academic medical centers.

“Access to trials transcends the trial itself. It requires critical information about trial options, helpful and easy-to-navigate resources, and patient-focused professionals who can help patients, or their physicians, identify an appropriate path to gain access to a trial when needed,” he said.

Strategic value

The hub is also intended to help the biopharmaceutical sponsors START works with, such as Moderna, to achieve study recruitment targets.

According to the organization, “As the platform continues to grow alongside START’s expanding site network, the START Hope Hub will be a critical feature enabling drug developers to reach more patients for their trials.

“This means early-phase trials can open, accrue, and complete more quickly, thereby reducing cycle times, de-risking development plans, and helping drug developers advance their most promising assets.”

The most recent expansion of START’s network took place in May when the organization formed a strategic deal with Nashville, Tennessee-based community site network OneOncology.

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