Cancer patients in West Michigan will gain access to new clinical trials through a federal grant and new program awarded by the National Cancer Institute.
A consortium of West Michigan hospitals is one of 46 sites in the nation to be designated as an NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP). The group will receive $1.9 million a year for five years to provide cutting-edge clinical cancer trials and to complete existing clinical trials.
The consortium includes hospitals in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Traverse City and St. Joseph.
“This is great news,” said Dr. Gilbert Padula, the principal investigator of the Cancer Research Consortium of West Michigan. “The NCORP designation will allow our West Michigan hospital members to recruit physician investigators to participate in National Cancer Institute clinical trials, such as those they trained under at national cancer centers.”
The National Cancer Institute used to provide federal funding for clinical trials through Community Clinical Oncology Programs in 60 communities, including Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. However, that program ended July 31 and was replaced with the Community Oncology Research Program.
The new program will have an expanded portfolio of clinical trials and include and emphasis on cancer care delivery research, according to a statement by the NCI.
It allows NCI to take advantage of recent advances in the understanding of cancer and bring that knowledge into clinical trials conducted in the community, where most patients receive their care, said Dr. Worta McCaskill-Stevens, director of NCORP. Nationwide, it will provide $93 million a year in research funds.
“We are very pleased to receive the NCORP designation because it offers hope and possibilities to the more than 9,000 men, women and children in West Michigan who will face a new cancer diagnosis each year,” said Connie Szczepanek, director of the Cancer Research Consortium of West Michigan. “The importance of these trials to our patients and their families and friends is immeasurable now and in the future.”
CRCWM members include:
• Bronson Battle Creek
• Lakeland HealthCare
• Mercy Health Mercy Campus
• Mercy Health Saint Mary’s
• Munson Medical Center
• Spectrum Health
• Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital
• West Michigan Cancer Center
• Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
• Van Andel Research Institute
The new national cancer research program, which began Friday, Aug. 1, includes 34 community sites and 12 sites serving minorities or underserved populations.
Two other programs in Michigan are named as community sites:
• Michigan Cancer Research Consortium in Ann Arbor
• Beaumont NCORP in Royal Oak
Source: MEDC
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