Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials, Important Research and African American Patients (Part 2)


Prostate cancer clinical trials information featuring: Christian Poehlein, MD, Merck Inc., Princeton, NJ; Charles Ryan, MD, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, Mr. Evon Jones; Bela Denes, MD, Amgen, Thousand Oaks, CA

 

PHEN’s Director of Clinical Trials Dr. Keith Crawford hosted a session on prostate cancer clinical trials, introducing Dr. Christian Poehlein, the project lead at Merck. Dr. Poehlein explained how he has attempted to make his clinical trials visible to all communities to increase diversity. Some medications in clinical trials have had better responses from African American patients, which is why it is vital to raise diversity in clinical research. Dr. Poehlein mentioned that Merck has as many as six Phase III studies open to patients with metastatic prostate cancer.

 

Dr. Charles Ryan, a prostate cancer researcher from the University of Minnesota, discussed three concepts of clinical trials that patients should discuss with their doctors. These were the three Ps – the process, the protection, and the promise of clinical trials. Prostate cancer survivor Mr. Euvon Jones explained how his journey began with a pain in his hip and an MRI scan. Upon seeing an oncologist, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 prostate cancer. However, immunotherapy and clinical research saved his life. Lastly, Dr. Bela Denes discussed immuno-oncology therapies at Amgen Oncology.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *