ClinicalTrials

Key Questions to Ask When Considering a Clinical Trial 

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A cancer clinical trial is a research study that is designed to test new ways to treat cancer. Trials test a range of possibilities, from treatment, devices, and diagnostics to screening, approaches to prevention, and other forms of intervention.  Clinical trials determine if a given intervention is safe and effective and are essential for improvements in cancer medicine.  “All of the medicines and approaches that we use to treat cancer are available because they … Read more

Prostate Cancer Patient Finds Renewed Hope Through a Clinical Trial 

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In the kitchen of Sabor de Minas, Caesar Sodre plates delicious Brazilian fare. For Sodre, 66, food is a love language and a way to care for his customers. For more than two decades, the bright blue Brazilian restaurant in Framingham, Massachusetts, has been a cornerstone of his community. That community — including staff and longtime customers — returned the care by … Read more

Teen with Rare Sarcoma Enjoys Stellar Response on Clinical Trial 

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Like many teenagers, Isabella (Bella) Snow Fraser, 15, enjoys immersing herself in action role-play games online. Her favorite, Genshin Impact, allows participants to join an interstellar traveler as they seek their lost twin across a mysterious world of danger and unforeseen challenges.  This futuristic fantasy in many ways mirrors Bella’s own life. After being diagnosed … Read more

How Clinical Trials Move Cancer Treatment Forward

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Clinical trials assess the safety and efficacy of new cancer drugs or drug combinations. The data and learnings these studies collect help regulators determine if the treatments should be approved and made broadly available to patients.  Clinical researchers conduct clinical trials at cancer institutes, medical centers, clinics, and hospitals worldwide, all under strict guidelines. Many … Read more

Fundraiser, Marilyn Monroe Impersonator, Snow Queen: Breast Cancer Patient Does It All 

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While planning her annual breast cancer fundraiser in Hull, Mass., Ellie Destito’s friends learned some surprising news. For the first time, their friend revealed that she was living with breast cancer herself.  “They had no idea,” recalls Destito, who was first diagnosed with breast cancer back in 2008. Through the years, she was treated with … Read more

New Options for First-Line Treatment of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

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Most patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) now have several options for first-line therapy, thanks to new clinical trial results and novel targeted agents. Many patients with CLL, a slowly progressive blood cancer in which the bone marrow makes too many white blood cells, don’t need immediate treatment but can be observed — sometimes for many years … Read more

The Latest Advances Against Hematologic Cancers

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Treatment of blood-related, or hematologic, cancers is seizing on insights into the basic genetic wiring of cancer cells and the body’s system for finding and attacking those cells. Research presentations at the annual American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting in December gave evidence of how broad, and rapid, the progress is. Targeted therapies, new combinations … Read more

What To Know About Precision Cancer Medicine [Infographic]

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Precision cancer medicine is an evolving approach to cancer care that personalizes treatment based on each patient’s unique genetic mutations. Since 2011, Dana-Farber has used its Profile research project, in partnership with Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital, to gather adult and pediatric patients’ tumor tissues and detect genetic alterations that may hold … Read more

How Do I Find The Right Clinical Trial For Me?

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Clinical trials are research studies that explore whether new treatments, diagnostic techniques, or disease-prevention strategies are safe and effective in patients. They may be an option when patients no longer benefit from standard therapies. They may also offer an alternative to standard therapies, particularly if the agent being tested is likely to be more effective … Read more

Newborn Screening Saves Baby from “Bubble Boy” Disease – Before He Ever Gets Sick

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Happy to have given birth in January 2015 to two seemingly healthy boys, Levi and Colton, after an uneventful pregnancy, Kala Looks gave little thought to the routine heel prick of newborn screening. At 23 and 24, she and her husband, Phillip, were high school sweethearts starting a family with a pair of fraternal twins. … Read more

Drug Prolongs Remissions in Some Relapsed Ovarian Cancers

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Ed. note: Niraparib (Zejula) was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on March 28, 2017, as a maintenance therapy for women with ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer. This post was originally published on Oct. 21, 2016. For women with relapsed ovarian cancer that responds to platinum-based chemotherapy, a drug that hampers … Read more

What Can Be Learned from Clinical Trials that Fail?

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When a clinical trial shows that a new treatment is no better than the standard, it can be disappointing. But such outcomes yield valuable, potentially lifesaving information. Trials can “fail” if the experimental therapy doesn’t work better than current treatments. These “negative” outcomes are important for several reasons. They can spare patients false hope or … Read more

New Treatment Protocol Boosts Survival in Pediatric Neuroblastoma Patients

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When Emily Coughlin complained of a sore knee in May 2009, doctors initially suspected Lyme disease. After antibiotics failed to relieve the pain, the girl, who was just shy of her fourth birthday, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a cancer that begins in nerve cells outside the brain and usually affects children under 6. Though rare … Read more

Clinical Trial Helps Betsy Brauser Live with Ovarian Cancer

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As researchers and clinicians in the Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers at Dana-Farber continue studying the benefits of a two-drug combination in slowing progression of recurrent ovarian cancer, one patient is as a beacon of hope for her caregivers – and for others facing the disease. Betsy Brauser, treated with standard chemotherapy near … Read more