QUEENSLANDERS with brain cancer will be part of a groundbreaking international effort to speed up life-saving medical discoveries.
Cure Brain Cancer Foundation’s head of research strategy Michelle Stewart said the new approach, called GBM Agile, would revolutionise how clinical trials were run.
“The real differentiate is that in a normal clinical trial you’re on it for a duration and that could be a couple of years and at the end the results are unblended and people work out if the trial has been successful,” Ms Stewart said.
“Our view is that, that takes too long and it’s unsustainable.”
The new approach will have patients’ results noted at interim points during the trial, rather than waiting until the end, and if the drugs are not working the patient will be pulled off that trial and started on different medication.
Trial duplication will be reduced, with the 130 clinicians involved across the world keeping tabs on what others are doing and knowing the results quicker than ever.
“We don’t know what is going to work but if we develop a new system that tests more drugs faster, then chances are on our side,” Ms Stewart said.