ACCRU and DAVA Oncology Sign Agreement to Boost Patient Participation in Clinical Trials

Dec. 14, 2012 - PRLog -- Dec. 12, 2012


Academic and Community Cancer Research United and DAVA Oncology Sign Agreement to Boost Patient Participation in Clinical Trials

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Academic and Community Cancer Research United (ACCRU), a network of more than 60 community and academic clinical research sites, and DAVA Oncology, LP (DAVA), a leading provider of patient recruitment services for cancer clinical trials, have agreed to cooperate in a broad-based effort to increase patient participation in these trials. In the U.S., just 2 to 4 percent of adult cancer patients participate in clinical trials and participation is particularly low among the elderly and minority populations. Low patient accrual rates to clinical trials result in delays in trial completion and ultimately slow the movement of effective therapies from research to practice.

"In recent years, cancer has overtaken cardiovascular disease to claim the top position in overall  mortality in the U.S.,” says Axel Grothey, M.D., ACCRU chair and an oncologist at Mayo Clinic. “Advances in cancer treatment require the successful design and conduct of clinical studies which aim to integrate research findings into patient care. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of cancer patients are currently being enrolled in clinical trials. ACCRU's mission, to improve the duration and quality of life for cancer patients by performing high-quality clinical trials in academic and community settings, is perfectly matched with DAVA's goal to enhance patient access to cancer research. “We are excited about our collaboration with DAVA, which will facilitate the successful development of innovative therapies in oncology," Dr. Grothey says.

According to Martin Lee, M.D., executive vice president of Clinical Trial Services at DAVA,
“The problem of low accrual to cancer clinical trials has existed for many years. We believe that innovative solutions and increased cooperation between all parties involved in the process are necessary to increase clinical trial accrual. We are excited to partner with the ACCRU network, which represents many of this country’s leading cancer clinical research sites, to offer a broad-based approach to enhancing clinical trial enrollment that we believe will lead to faster delivery of more effective therapies to cancer patients.” ACCRU and DAVA Oncology will cooperate on the following strategies:
• Protocol optimization
• Clinical trial feasibility analysis
• Protocol-specific site selection
• Development of trial-specific patient recruitment resources
• Physician-to-physician engagement to raise protocol awareness


About ACCRU

The Academic and Community Cancer Research United (ACCRU) is a clinical research group whose operations are based at the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center in Rochester, Minn. ACCRU includes a network of more than 65 academic and community-based cancer treatment clinics and hospitals in the United States and Canada. ACCRU, formerly Mayo Clinic Cancer Research Consortium
(MCCRC), was established in 2004 to conduct clinical trials to improve cancer care.


About DAVA Oncology

DAVA Oncology, LP, is a leading provider of clinical trial acceleration services and oncology drug development consulting products designed to accelerate research and development timelines. The company was founded in 2007 with a mission to facilitate successful cancer drug development through the creation of innovative solutions and services. DAVA’s primary focus is to accelerate the successful completion of cancer clinical trials through peer-to-peer discussions and case-based learning with clinical trial investigators, research staff and referring physicians.