By
Trial Library
October 15, 2024
Dr. Charles Ryan, a medical oncologist with over 25 years of experience, has devoted much of his career to clinical research in prostate cancer, playing a crucial role in designing and conducting studies ranging from early-phase trials to large-scale phase three studies. Despite the progress made, he identifies a major challenge in the field: the lack of targeted therapies tailored to the various facets of prostate cancer biology.
“One of the key problems today is the lack of availability of specific therapies for patients with actionable mutations,” Dr. Ryan explains. It is estimated that many patients across the country carry mutations that should make them candidates for either cutting-edge therapies in development or FDA-approved treatments. Unfortunately, due to inadequate genetic testing, these patients are not receiving the therapies they need. Dr. Ryan stresses the importance of aligning clinical trials with patient biology, a future goal that could significantly accelerate the translation of scientific discoveries into effective treatments.
In addition to the scientific hurdles, Dr. Ryan points to the issue of inequity in clinical trial enrollment. "Providers are really the key to addressing this imbalance," he says. Historically, the patient populations enrolled in clinical trials have often been homogeneous, even though the therapies resulting from these trials are used across diverse populations. Dr. Ryan believes that enrolling a more diverse range of participants in clinical trials is crucial to understanding how therapies work for all patients. “Once we can achieve that, we’ll have a much clearer sense of how well treatments perform across the full spectrum of the population.”
In this context, Dr. Ryan finds the Trial Library decision support platform to be an essential tool for clinicians. One of the platform’s most valuable features is its ability to streamline the trial enrollment process by providing real-time access to trial opportunities within a clinician’s geographic area. "The Trial Library tool helps clinicians identify trials for which their patients may be eligible, without the back-and-forth that traditionally happens through phone calls and emails with referring centers or specialists," Dr. Ryan says. This saves time and ensures that patients are connected to trials for which they may be eligible, sometimes uncovering eligibility for multiple trials that may not have been initially apparent.
The platform's precise matching capability is another feature Dr. Ryan appreciates. "You can tell, right there in the clinic with the app in your hand, whether the patient is likely to be eligible for a trial, avoiding the frustration of referring a patient only to have them be screened out later." This ability to match patients more accurately saves both clinician and patient time, streamlining a process that has traditionally been cumbersome and slow.
Dr. Ryan also highlights the detailed refinement the platform offers as clinicians input patient data. "As you enter details like the treatments a patient has received, their stage of cancer, and their genomic profile, the platform asks increasingly refined questions, narrowing down the trial options to the most precise match." This makes the platform not only easy to use but also efficient in helping clinicians navigate the complexities of trial participation criteria.
In summary, Dr. Ryan sees Trial Library’s trial search platform as instrumental in addressing key challenges in the clinical research space, from facilitating patient access to appropriate trials to helping improve equity in clinical trial participation. By integrating these tools into everyday practice, the future of precision cancer treatment and clinical research becomes more inclusive, efficient, and aligned with the needs of a diverse patient population.
