Clinical Trials

At the AtlantiCare Cancer Care Institute, a Fox Chase Cancer Center Partner, our patients have options when making important healthcare decisions. These options include access to the newest and most promising clinical trials for cancer. Our hope is that this site provides an opportunity for you to make informed decisions regarding these important healthcare options.

Patients often have misconceptions about clinical trials that could influence their decision to participate. In the past, clinical trials were sometimes seen as the last resort for patients who had no other choices. Today, however, there are clinical trials for individuals who are seeking initial treatment for an early stage of cancer.

Clinical research is a key component at the AtlantiCare Cancer Care Institute. We currently offer many clinical trials, addressing each of the different kinds of cancer and participate in the following research organizations and cooperative groups:

Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG)
National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP)
Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG)
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Cancer Trials Support Unit (CTSU)
American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG)

To find out about eligibility and participation contact your clinician at the AtlantiCare Cancer Care Institute or call the Office of Oncology Research at 609-677-7735.

What are Clinical Trials?

Clinical trials are research studies that involve people. They answer questions about how a new medicine or treatment works in humans, and are the final step in a long process that often begins with laboratory research. Through clinical studies, doctors find new and better ways to prevent, detect, diagnose, control, and treat diseases such as cancer.

Every advancement in the treatment of cancer has resulted from clinical trials.

Why Are Clinical Trials Important?

Advances in medicine and science are the results of new ideas and approaches developed through research. New cancer treatments must prove to be safe and effective in scientific studies with a certain number of patients before they can be made widely available.

Through clinical trials, researchers learn which approaches are more effective than others. This is the best way to test a new treatment.

Why Do Patients Choose Clinical Trials?

Patients take part in clinical trials for many reasons. Usually, they hope that they will benefit from taking part in a clinical trial. They may hope for a cure of disease, a longer life, a way to feel better. Often they want to contribute to a research effort that may help others.

Based on what researchers learn from laboratory studies, and sometimes earlier clinical studies and standard treatments as well, they design a trial to see if a new treatment will improve on current treatments. The hope is that it will. Often researchers use standard treatments as the building blocks to try to design better treatments.