For Immediate Release
October 30, 2006

Clinical Research Center Stands Out Nationally for Its Sole Focus on Early Cancer Trials

An anonymous $2 million gift will establish a dedicated Clinical Research Center at Roswell Park. According to Donald L. Trump, MD, FACP, Associate Director of RPCI, “Enhancing patient participation in early phase clinical studies is a high-priority focus for both Roswell Park and the National Cancer Institute (NCI). This is what will lead to major improvements in cancer treatment and, ultimately, cures.”

Trump said that 550 patients are currently enrolled in 156 different phase I and phase II clinical studies at the Institute in 2006. The new center will allow two to three-times more patients to be enrolled in such studies and the process of participation will be more comfortable for each patient. “This Center will permit us to significantly accelerate our translational research program – the program which brings scientific discoveries from the lab bench to the patient’s bedside,” he added, stating that the Center’s goal is to improve standard therapies and develop more effective ones.

 The $2 million gift was made by a donor outside of Western New York who wanted to “make the largest impact” in increasing participation in clinical trials both statewide and nationally, said Donna Gioia, a member of the RPCI Corporation Governance Board and Chair of the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. “This Clinical Research Center will allow more patients greater access to the most innovative treatments here at Roswell Park, and offers additional hope for patients everywhere who will ultimately benefit from this innovative research.”

 During the gift announcement, two national leaders in translational research who will help lead RPCI’s new Center were introduced. Drs. Alex A. Adjei, MD, PhD, and Kelvin P. Lee, MD, have assumed the positions of Senior Vice President for Clinical Research and Chair of Medicine, and Chair of Immunology and Vice Chair of Medicine (Hematologic Malignancies), respectively, at Roswell Park.

Adjei,who will oversee the new Center, is a distinguished national scientist in translational research, drug development and thoracic oncology. He comes to RPCI from the Mayo Clinic and Mayo College of Medicine, Rochester, MN, where he served as

Professor of Oncology and led highly successful thoracic oncology and phase I clinical research programs.  He currently serves as Vice Chair of the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG) and Chair of the NCCTG Lung Cancer Committee.

Lee, as Vice Chair of the Department of Medicine, will actively collaborate with Dr. Adjei in the development of the Center. He is an accomplished researcher, whose investigations on the immunology and biology of multiple myeloma is supported by several peer-reviewed National Institutes of Health and NCI grants, and has been presented at professional conferences worldwide. Dr. Lee joins Roswell Park from UM/Sylvester Cancer Center, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, where he served as Associate Professor of Immunology and Oncology; Director of the Cell Banking and Purification Core Facility; and Co-Director of the Clinical Oncology Research Program.

Dr. Adjei explained that the new Clinical Research Center will stand out among others in the country due to its focus on increasing access to early-phase clinical trials solely for cancer patients—a result of unrestricted donor funding.

“Most major cancer centers that are not stand-alones (independently managed, rather than part of a university or larger hospital organization) have General Clinical Research Centers (GCRCs) funded by the National Institutes of Health. Because they’re funded by the NIH, no particular type of disease can predominate in the studies they do, and they must limit the number of patients they enroll in cancer studies.”

The result, he said, is that while Roswell Park can’t have an NIH-funded GCRC, the independence gained from one donor’s gift has created, quite possibly, an unmatched flexible climate in which to grow patient research participation levels.

The Roswell Park Cancer Institute Clinical Research Center will be located on the 25-acre Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, and is scheduled to open in September of 2007. It will include outpatient care areas and inpatient care areas with central monitoring capabilities, a satellite laboratory and additional facilities for the collection and transmission of research data.

Roswell Park Cancer Institute, founded in 1898, is the nation’s first cancer research, treatment and education center and is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in Upstate New York. RPCI is a member of the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of the nation’s leading cancer centers. For more information, visit RPCI’s website at www.roswellpark.org, call 1-877-ASK-RPCI or e-mail askrpci@roswellpark.org.

 

-30-