Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jul 1;26(13):3100-3103.
doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-20-1364. Epub 2020 Apr 20.

Adapting to a Pandemic - Conducting Oncology Trials during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic

Aaron C Tan  1 , David M Ashley  2 , Mustafa Khasraw  3
Affiliations

Adapting to a Pandemic - Conducting Oncology Trials during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic

Aaron C Tan et al. Clin Cancer Res. .

Abstract

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has necessitated changes in cancer care delivery as resources are reallocated. Clinical trials and other research activities are inevitably impacted. Start-up activities for new trials may be deferred and recruitment suspended. For patients already enrolled however, there are challenges in continuing treatment on trial. Regulatory bodies have issued guidance on managing clinical trials during the pandemic, including contingency measures for remote study visits, delivery of investigational product, and site monitoring visits. New cancer clinical trial practices during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic include new risk assessment strategies, decentralized and remote trial coordination, data collection, and delegation of specific therapeutic activities. This experience could provide evidence of more feasible and cost-effective methods for future clinical trial conduct.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

D.M. Ashley is an employee/paid consultant for Istari Oncology, Oblato, and Diverse Biopharma, and holds ownership interest (including patents) in Istari. M. Khasraw reports receiving other commercial research support from Bristol-Myers Squibb and AbbVie. No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed by the other author.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Decentralized versus traditional clinical trial models. Adapted from Khozin and colleagues (21).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Primary and satellite clinical trial sites. Adapted from Sabesan and colleagues (17).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organization. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. 2020. Available from: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019.
    1. Burki TK. Cancer care in the time of COVID-19. Lancet Oncol 2020. Mar 23 [Epub ahead of print]. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pietrantonio F, Garassino MC. Caring for patients with cancer during the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy. JAMA Oncol 2020. Apr 10 [Epub ahead of print]. - PubMed
    1. Wang Z, Wang J, He J. Active and effective measures for the care of patients with cancer during the COVID-19 spread in China. JAMA Oncol 2020. Apr 1 [Epub ahead of print]. - PubMed
    1. National University Cancer Institute of Singapore (NCIS) Workflow Team. A segregated-team model to maintain cancer care during the COVID-19 outbreak at an academic center in Singapore. Ann Oncol 2020. Mar 31 [Epub ahead of print]. - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms