Early Phase Clinical Trials in Adult Patients
Early phase trials allow us to explore the safety and side effects of potential new treatments as well as the clinical pharmacology and potential drug interactions of new agents as they enter the clinic.
Patients are recruited into trials from across the Northern region and treated in the Sir Bobby Robson Cancer Trials Research Centre, which reside within the regional Northern Centre for Cancer Care. This facility enables us to treat patients and process translational research samples to regulatory standards.
Our clinical trial unit has a strong track record in performing “first-in-human studies” and having a unique portfolio of novel agents exploiting molecularly-based targeted therapy. We continue to work closely with multiple industry collaborators and Cancer Research UK to bring the best new drugs into the clinic.
The clinical trial unit has the capacity to run up to 15 phase I studies, with associated phase II studies and a number of later (phase III) trials in collaboration with the Northern Cancer Research Network to make all potential new treatments accessible to patients.
A significant contribution has been made to the development of molecularly-targeted therapies:
- Pemetrexed in mesothelioma
- Imatinib in chronic myeloid leukaemia
