The trials unit is based in the new regional Northern Centre for Cancer Care at the Freeman Hospital. It is a designated unit for the administration of first in human experimental cancer drugs and the staff has many years expertise in the regulatory submission and running of clinical trials. A dedicated clinical trials pharmacy ensures safe handling and monitoring of experimental agents.

Services offered

There is a paediatric cancer trials unit within the platform, located in the new Great North Children’s Hospital (GNCH). The GNCH is both one of the 20 principal paediatric oncology treatment centres as well as a designated phase I/II centre for children and young people with cancer and leukaemia in the UK.

The cancer clinical trials platform is an important component of the strategy of the Newcastle Cancer Centre (NCC), part of the Northern Institute for Cancer Research at Newcastle University.

The four research groupings in the Centre are:

• solid tumour target discovery
• drug development and imaging
• paediatric oncology and haematology
• clinical and translational research

They all interact closely with the clinical research platform realising its ambition to perform internationally competitive bench to bedside research.

Major research strengths of the NCC include:

• early phase clinical trials
• the development of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic trial endpoints
• translational projects focused on breast, ovarian and prostate cancer
• a cross tumour site translational interest in DNA repair
• childhood cancers, in particular leukaemia, medulloblastoma and neuroblastoma.

Programmatic research grants are held from Cancer Research UK, Department of Health & Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research and the North of England Cancer Research Fund.

There are excellent opportunities for postgraduate clinical training, with PhD and clinical fellowship training programs established in the Faculty of Medical Sciences.

Specialist services and equipment include:

• Two modern spacious patient treatment rooms, two fully equipped consulting rooms, one procedure room, two single patient rooms and a patient quiet room
• Fully equipped laboratory with -80°C and -20°C monitored freezers with backup, refrigerated centrifuges, dry-ice storage, liquid nitrogen snap freezing and Human Tissue Act License
• Blood/tissue sample preparation facilities
• Designated chemotherapy area status
• Staff trained in complex vascular access procedures, including PICC line and midline placement, and vascular ultrasound
• Drug storage and dispensing
• GCLP compliant pharmacology and pharmacodynamic assessment laboratories

Contact

• Dr Julie Charlton, Manager
• Email: j.a.charlton@ncl.ac.uk
• Telephone: +44 (0)191 213 8453