Memorial Cancer Institute

Disease Specific Programs:
Leukemia, Lymphoma & Bone Marrow Transplant Program — Clinical Research

Clinical research is an important component of treating patients with blood cancers. Clinical trials provide patients access to potentially life-saving new therapies, enabling them to receive new drugs or procedures before they come to market.

The Memorial Cancer Institute’s Leukemia, Lymphoma & Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) Program is proud to be affiliated with the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG) research base at the Mayo Clinic, enabling it to offer clinical trials and experimental therapies available at the legendary Rochester, Minnesota-based medical center.

The Memorial Cancer Institute’s partnership with the Mayo Clinic provides its patients with screening, registration and receipt of all clinical treatments and follow-up at Memorial’s facilities without ever having to leave South Florida.

Participating in a Clinical Trial

To participate in a clinical trial, a patient need only schedule a consultation with one of the physicians in the Leukemia, Lymphoma & BMT program. Following a complete history and physical, laboratory testing, and X-rays, pathology samples will be reviewed internally by the program’s expert hematopathologist. All new cases are presented in a multidisciplinary Hematology Tumor Board that includes hematologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, hematopathologists, and the clinical research staff. This team of experts will determine treatment recommendations, including eligibility for research protocols and bone marrow transplant.

Benefits of Clinical Trials

Access: Clinical trials provide patients with access to potentially life-saving new drugs and treatments that would otherwise be unavailable. For patients who have not been successfully helped by standard treatments, or have relapsed, the best, and in some cases the only treatments that have the possibility of prolonging life are those undergoing testing either by the pharmaceutical industry or by government research programs. The only way to get access to these treatments before FDA approval—a process that can take from 5 to 10 years—is to enroll in a clinical trial under the close supervision of appropriately trained physicians and staff.

Quality

The best way to be treated is as part of a properly designed clinical research protocol. The monitoring and scrutiny involved is at a very high level. Patients treated as part of a research protocol are also monitored by the central study site, usually the government agency or university sponsoring the study, or the pharmaceutical company developing the product. As a result, patients “on study” get meticulous attention during their treatments by their own physician locally, as well as the study coordinators.

Current and Pending Clinical Trials

To learn more about current and pending clinical trials, please call (954) 430- 6861.

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