CLINICAL SCIENCE
Conducting evaluation, research and development of pharmaceutical agents for clinical application in the treatment of cancer.
• Dr. Gail Eckhardt established a developmental therapeutics laboratory and clinic in 1999, which began clinical trials in 2000. As part of this developmental therapeutics program, the staff working with Dr. Eckhardt established four major interdisciplinary research areas which include:
- Drug discovery
- Pre-clinical development
- Early clinical development
- Delivery
The program has enrolled over 100 patients in only 6 years. The program has gained national and international recognition and as a result, NIH funding was obtained in 2003.
• UCCC is leading the way in expanding access to early clinical trials for elderly cancer patients through grants from the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute on Aging, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health and Friends of Cancer Research. UCCC is one of only a few centers nationally to receive funding for this important initiative, which will examine the barriers that prevent seniors from joining clinical trials and then develop methods to overcome those barriers.
• Dr. Raj Agarwal in collaboration with Dr. Bob Sclafani is investigating chemoprevention compounds that prevent cancers. Drs. Michael Glode and Agarwal are testing some of these compounds in preventing prostate cancer.
• The only center in the Rocky Mountain region and one of only 30 sites throughout the United States selected to participate in the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) to investigate the effectiveness of screening for lung cancer. While currently there is no approved screening for lung cancer, the NLST seeks to determine whether proactive spiral computerized technology (CT) scans are better than chest X-rays at reducing a patient's changes of dying from lung cancer.
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