Singapore benefits in economic and social spin-offs from medical scientific community playing key role in mega clinical trials
Thursday, 04 Feb 2010
Singapore, 04 Feb 2010 –
Singapore is benefiting economically and socially arising from its robust foray into mega clinical research projects, one of which is the Asia Pacific Hepatocellular Carcinoma Trials Group. The involvement of multi-centres in the region has made the Group’s research projects not only attracted interests from big pharmaceutical companies but also point them to investment opportunities in Singapore.
2. One of the unique elements of the Group is that its research projects are initiated by investigators rather than to be driven by the big pharmaceutical companies. However the pharmaceutical companies are involved in the funding and the supply of free drugs for the trials.
3. Secondly, the Group’s work emphasises the need for scientists to focus on cancers that are common among Asians, instead of extrapolating on research data from Europe and North America. Hepatocellular carcinoma is the 4 th most common cancer in the world and is responsible for more than a million deaths annually. There is great geographical variation in the distribution of hepatocellular carcinoma and 80% of this cancer found in the Asia-Pacific region.
4. Prof Soo Khee Chee, Director of the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS), said this means that the patients are benefiting from the free drugs while for the pharmaceutical companies the cost will be significantly lesser. The NCCS is the AHCC Trials Group secretariat, with funding from the Singapore Millennium Foundation. The clinical trial data base is managed by the Singapore Clinical Research Institute.
5. To-date a trial using a novel treatment combination of selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) and systemic therapy (sorafenib), which involved 35 patients who are suffering from liver cancer, has been completed and it showed promising results. Because of the multi-centre involvement, it was easier to recruit the required critical mass of patients for the trial and thus shortened the time frame to complete the project.
6. Pharmaceutical companies that are involved in various trials undertaken by the AHCC Trials Group include Sirtex Medical, Novartis (Singapore) Pte Ltd and Bayer Schering Pharma Singapore.
7. In line with the projects undertaken by the AHCC Trials Group, representatives from 29 cancer centres across Asia (refer to annex 2), including the major institutions in Singapore such as the Changi General Hospital, National University Hospital, Singapore General Hospital and Tan Tock Seng Hospital. They will attend the 5 th General Meeting of the AHCC Trial Group which will be held on 6 th February at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School.
8. Prof Soo, in explaining the significance of the meeting, said: “This is a gathering of top clinician scientists and medical specialists in the region. When you get a gathering of these top brains in a discussion, there is a multiplier effect on the dimension of the expertise arising from their intellectual inputs. This is significant to Singapore which wants to be the centre of excellence for biomedical research.”
9. At the meeting, the scientists will hear from Dr Thomas Leung, Associate Director of Comprehensive Oncology Centre, Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital, who main research interest is in non-surgical treatment for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. Another speaker is NCCS’ Dr Donald Poon, who is an Assistant Professor at Duke-NUS GMS, whose speciality and research interests include neuroendrocrine tumours, hepatobiliary cancer and geriatric oncology.
10. The group will also discuss the outcomes of three clinical trials completed and recently analysed by the AHCC Trials Group as well as discussed the details of three new trials to be launched this year - two of which are phase II trials and the other a phase III trial.
About AHCC
The Asia-Pacific Hepatocellular Carcinoma (AHCC) Trials Group is a collaborative group formed in 1997 by clinicians treating hepatocellular carcinoma in major medical centres in the Asia-Pacific region. The aims of the trials group are to conduct preventive and therapeutic trials in hepatocellular carcinoma, to carry out basic and translational research in this field and to develop training and educational programs pertaining to HCC.
For more information, visit AHCC website at http://www.scri.edu.sg/AHCC.html.
About SCRI
The Singapore Clinical Research Institute (SCRI) is an organization dedicated to improving patient care through the conduct of high quality clinical research.
With an experienced team of scientists and research personnel, SCRI offers the full suite of expertise required for clinical project development and execution ranging from innovative study design to site monitoring, data and project management, data analyses and publication.
A key focus for SCRI is the collaboration with clinicians in multi-site, multi-national clinical research networks such as the AHCC trials group. SCRI and its predecessor, The Clinical Trials and Epidemiology Research Unit (CTERU) were instrumental in the evolution of this group and remain so today with SCRI hosting the data centre and secretariat for the network.
For more information on SCRI, please visit www.scri.edu.sg.
About (NCCS)
The National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) is the premier cancer research and treatment facility in Singapore and in the region. It was established in 1997 and sees about 68 per cent of the public sector medical oncology cases and about 65 per cent of radiation oncology cases. NCCS not only houses the most number of oncologists in Singapore but is also equipped with the largest number of equipment to provide the latest radiation oncology care in Singapore.
For further information, please contact :
Ms Carol Ang
Executive, Corporate Communications
Tel: 6236 9424
Hp:
9845 5354
Ms Veronica Lee
Senior Executive, Corporate Communications
Tel:
6236 9429
Hp:
9450 4017
Mr Sunny Wee
Community and Media Relations Advisor
Tel: 9274 6922
|
