Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has recruited the highest number of patients in the UK into an innovative kidney cancer trial; as well as recruiting the second highest number of patients globally into this trial currently.
The trial, entitled CheckMate 914, looks into the use of a combination of treatments to stimulate the body’s immune system in kidney cancer patients in order to fight cancerous cells and prevent the return of a tumour following surgery.
The trial hopes to answer the important question of whether immunotherapy treatment after surgery for high risk kidney cancer patients (those whose risk of cancer returning is about 50%) reduces the risk of this cancer coming back and increases the chances of curing the cancer altogether.
The NIHR Lancashire Clinical Research Facility, which is based at Royal Preston Hospital, is one of only 23 NIHR clinical research facilities in the country, and the only one of its kind in Lancashire. The centre provides patients in the Lancashire and South Cumbria area with the opportunity to be involved in clinical research across a wide range of health topics and conditions including cancer, and is a partnership with Lancaster University and Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust. As one of the top hospital research centres in the UK, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals lead international clinical trials and studies that will improve the health and life expectancy of this and future generations.
Omi Parikh, Consultant Oncologist at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, said: “We are so pleased to be one of the top performing sites in the world for this trial. I do think this is a great achievement for the team at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals and testament to the amazing work that we are able to do here. This is obviously a big team effort that includes the whole team including the surgeons who are referring the patients in a timely fashion (Mr Zelhof) the research nurse (Sheila Calvert) and all of the team in the research department, as well the chemotherapy team who administer the treatment. We are also so grateful for the patients who give up a significant amount of time and energy to take part in these clinical trials.”
Nita Desai, Research Access Project Manager, said: “The most important thing to us is the patients who enable us to carry out these studies. Without them, there would be no trials, and it is their commitment to research into new treatments that makes our work happen. We have not had a study like this in our hospitals for a considerable length of time now, so it is great news that we are able to look into this group of patients and make advancements for current and future patients. We were not originally selected as a site for this study; so it is fantastic that the team have been able to recruit so well into this trial in a shorter time frame.”