SPECTA: Screening Cancer Patients for Efficient Clinical Trial Access
Research type
Research Study
Full title
SPECTA: Screening Cancer Patients for Efficient Clinical Trial Access
IRAS ID
223041
Contact name
Julia Scarisbrick
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
European Organisation for the Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC)
Research summary
Cancers have different features or characteristics that make each person’s tumour unique. So people with cancer should not necessarily all be treated in the same way. Because there is still a lot of missing information about tumour characteristics, especially for rare cancers, the treatment opportunities and treatments that can be tailored to each person (personalised treatment) are limited.
This program aims to better understand the tumour characteristics of people diagnosed with a primary rare cancer. Participant's data and biological samples (such as tumour and blood samples) will be collected and analysed. The samples and information will be used to find tumour characteristics or changes to support translational and biomarker research that might:
- explain how cancer develops or progresses
- show how people respond to current or new treatments
- provide doctors with knowledge that may become relevant to the participant or help people with cancer in the future
- help doctors to understand which treatments may be helpful to participants. This will hopefully enable participants to be offered access to drugs/treatments that specifically target the characteristics of their tumour, in particular within clinical trials. This matching or 'personalising of treatment' aims to improve outcomes for individual patients. These trials may be already ongoing or planned for the future.The program will take place in the UK and in several countries across Europe. Approximately 500 patients will be invited to participate in this program every year.This program will last as long as it is scientifically and ethically relevant and practically possible.
The program is developed and run by European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), an independent, non-profit clinical research organisation based in Brussels, Belgium.
REC name
HSC REC B
REC reference
17/NI/0141
Date of REC Opinion
9 Aug 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion