Clinical Trials

Great answer! here is a link to another list...http://www.roswellpark.org/clinical-trials/possible-questions

It looks like a Phase 2 study was just completed on metestatic women http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00842998?term=herceptin+only&rank=5

and a phase three is ongoing
and recruiting metestatic women

http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00968968?term=herceptin+only&rank=9

to view all clinic trials go to http://clinicaltrials.gov

Unfortunately there isn't just one place you can go to see all clinical trials that are currently open. One source is clinicaltrials.gov which is a reliable source for clinical trials. CenterWatch is another and then individual hospitals/medical centers may have ongoing trials that aren't listed on these resources. When I checked clinicaltrials.gov and typed in "inflammatory breast cancer" I got 16 trials that are recruiting and include IBC patients. There were 3 trials with 'unknown' status, and 1 'not yet recruiting'. A few of these are registry trials and not treatment related.

It's always useful to consider a clinical trial when exploring treatment options but also very important to look carefully at the trial, who is sponsoring the trial, and how will participation in this trial impact future treatment.

Unfortunately many trials that include IBC patients don't separate out the data on the IBC patients so may not learn info specific to IBC. If we are to learn from clinical trial data the info on IBC patients must be studied on its own and kept separate from locally advanced or other patients.

The MINDACT clinical trial was designed to test whether a molecular test of 70 genes (MammaPrint) is better than standard clinical/pathological tests at predicting which women with early stage breast cancer will benefit from receiving chemotherapy. More details on the trial can be found on the NCI website at http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/search/view?cdrid=526522&version=healthprofessional and from the manufacturer at http://www.agendia.com/pages/mindact/128.php. The trial is ongoing (in Europe). A recent publication from Germany suggests that the test may be better at grouping patients into 'low' and 'high' risk of recurrence than currently used tests (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20383789).

Potential benefits of a high quality clinical trial:
-Gain access to new research treatments.
-Obtain expert medical care at leading health care facilities.
-Help others by contributing to medical research.

Potential risks
- Potential unpleasant and serious side effects.
- Treatment may not be effective.
- May require more of your time and effort, including travel, more treatments, hospital stays, and complex requirements.

When deciding whether to participate in a clinical trial, many issues should be taken into consideration. One of the main issues is whether you are a good fit for the trial, both from a disease and personal perspective. Make sure you talk to your medical team to determine if you are eligible, learn as much as possible about the clinical trial, and understand the benefits and risks.

Some reasons to consider participating in a clinical trial include:
- Current therapies are not good enough or are not a good fit (current health status, other health conditions, age, etc.)
- For aggressive, high risk, or high relapse diseases
- For preventative trials that may slow progression of the disease
- Current treatments are not working or disease is resistant
- There is no standard treatment of care for your particular situation

Some web sites to check are:
- http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials
- http://clinicaltrials.gov
- http://breastcancertrials.org
- http://www.controlled-trials.com/
- http://www.emergingmed.com/
- http://acurian.com
- http://centerwatch.com