Tag: Cancer Care

Dr. John Leonard Comments on Fox 5 News Regarding the Importance of Clinical Trials

Via the Meyer Cancer Center.

Recently Fox 5 News interviewed Lymphoma Program director, Dr. John Leonard about patient participation in clinical trials. As the director of the Joint Clinical Trials Office at Weill Cornell Medical College and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Dr. Leonard is an expert in all questions relating to clinical trials. In the video Dr. Leonard cautioned that,

“…finding patients for clinical trials is often about numbers not money. Dr. Leonard says his office is trying to get the word out and let more patients know that clinical studies are out there that than can potentially help them.

Dr. Leonard’s office focuses on finding more effective treatments for serious illnesses like cancer and neurological disorders. He says it is a great opportunity for patients to gain access to the newest treatments before they’re available to anyone else.

Dr. Leonard has personally treated patients on clinical trials who have been among the first people to ever get a drug, and also among the first people to be effectively treated, cured, or had a better outcome because they participated in a clinical trial.

Remember, there is a big difference between answering an online ad for a medical study and going to a reputable institution like Weill Cornell Medical College or New York Presbyterian Hospital.

You can see plenty of cautionary tales online from people who signed up for studies online and gave their personal information only to find out that study was a scam designed to get and sell that personal information to marketers.

If you think a clinical trial might work for you, Dr. Leonard suggests contacting your physician.”

If you are interested in participating in a clinical trial for patients with lymphoma at Weill Cornell Medical College please click on the link.

Dr. John Leonard can be followed on Twitter @JohnPLeonardMD.

The Lymphoma Program can be followed on Twitter @lymphomaprogram.

Palbociclib and One Researcher’s Resolve

Palbociclib is a selective CDK4/6 inhibitor approved by the FDA for the treatment of patients with breast cancer. Currently it’s being tested in phase I trials for the treatment of patients with mantle cell lymphoma. The use of palbociclib as a cancer treatment was championed by Selina Chen-Kiang, PhD., professor of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and Microbiology & Immunology, and a key collaborator with the Lymphoma Program. Palbociclib is currently considered one of the next big things in cancer treatment. But:

“..it’s old news for Selina Chen-Kiang, Ph.D…who has been a cheerleader for palbociclib for the past decade. In fact, her relentless effort helped resurrect the drug after it was shelved by an uninterested pharmaceutical company, and her initial findings inspired the clinical trials that paved the path for its accelerated approval.”    

“Chen-Kiang is renowned for her research in immunology and hematological malignancies. A molecular biologist by training, she first got swept into myeloma and lymphoma research while studying how antibody-secreting plasma cells were generated from B cells. Unlike solid tissue, normal immune cells can be isolated at different stages from mice and humans, making them the perfect model to study her primary passion: cell cycle control of immunity.”

Today Dr. Chen-Kiang’s dogged inquiry into the potential of palbociclib has the potential to help cancer patients. Her resolve exemplifies the bench portion of our bench to bedside approach at the Meyer Cancer Center. Palbociclib is currently undergoing phase I investigator-initiated trials, sponsored by the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program at the National Cancer Institute at Weill Cornell Medical College. The principle investigator is Dr. Peter Martin. You can listen to him explain explain the benefits of this recently initiated trial:

A Road Map for Discovery and Translation in Lymphoma

In August 2014 the American Society of Hematology (ASH) organized the inaugural Meeting on Lymphoma Biology. The meeting’s Steering Committee was tasked with recommending a road map for future priorities in lymphoma discovery and translation. After identifying roadblocks that limit research they made recommendations on how to supersede them in the future. According to their recommendations:

The road map is based on the fundamental goal of extending effective treatment to all patients with lymphoma. Achieving that goal with maximum efficiency and expedience will require a broad and collaborative effort between researchers, patients, funding agencies, pharma, and advocacy groups.

Among the members of the distinguished committee, Weill Cornell Medical College was represented by Lymphoma Program Director, Dr. John P. Leonard and Dr. Ari Melnick, Chair of the Hematologic Malignancies Program at the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center.