Poster Presentation Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2023

Personalised cancer clinical trials navigator. Empowering cancer patients, driving cancer research. (#435)

Kate Saw 1 2 , Oksana Zdanska 2 3 , Gio Kalender 1 , Emma-Kate Carson 4 , Antonia Gazal 5 , Nitesh Naidoo 6 , Elgene Lim 1 2
  1. The Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia
  2. The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, St Vincent’s Hospital, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia
  3. Torrens University, Fortitude Valley, QLD, Australia
  4. Macarthur Cancer Therapy Centre, Campbelltown Hospital, Campbelltown, NSW, Australia
  5. University of Notre Dame Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  6. Vocus Group Limited, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Background: Clinical research is vital to the development of new anticancer treatments, yet only ~5% of cancer patients in Australia participate in an oncology clinical trial1. In the context of increasing numbers of clinical trials in Australia, a shift toward precision medicine, and an improvement in objective response rates, there is now a unique opportunity to increase clinical trials enrolment and provide access to further treatment options for cancer patients. However, from a patient perspective, the complexity of the clinical trials landscape continues to provide a major barrier to participation.

The problem: The ability to consider, let alone participate in clinical trials throughout a person’s cancer journey is hampered by multiple barriers from the patient, clinician and structural perspectives including awareness, accessibility, language, time, and resources. Existing clinical trial navigation tools are either designed with a clinician-centric only approach, operate on a fee-for-service basis, do not allow for real-time updating of clinical trial information or are optimised for clinical trial locations outside of Australia. Hence there is a need for a simple to use, up to date navigation tool that assists a cancer patient in identifying appropriate trials relevant for their condition and in their decision to join, and remain engaged, in a clinical trial.

The solution: Developed by researchers from Garvan Institute of Medical Research and driven by co-design methodology with multidisciplinary clinicians and cancer patients, our digital cancer clinical trials navigator tool curates a personalised list of trial matches for each patient. Informed by qualitative patient interview data, it will further provide decision-making and survivorship support to facilitate greater participation in clinical trials. This scalable solution further facilitates our understanding of the patient population whereby de-identified cohort data provides insights into real world treatment patterns as well as patient and clinician perspectives.

  1. Cancer Institute NSW. Cancer control in NSW: Statewide report, 2020. Sydney:Cancer Institute NSW, 2020.