Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah
Media Release

For Immediate Release
August 16, 2012

Contact:
Linda Aagard
Huntsman Cancer Institute
801-587-7639

New Cancer Clinical Trials Mobile Web Service Coming to Your Smartphone or Tablet

SALT LAKE CITY—Clinical trials are often the best, and sometimes the only, hope for patients with advanced or complicated cancers. All cancer treatments used today began as a clinical trial. But getting information out about a clinical trial—to the right patients at the right time—can be a challenge. Now Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah announces the development of a new mobile web service to help patients, family members, community physicians, or anyone, find out the most current information about HCI's clinical trials.

"First, HCI's clinical trials website is already one of the most accurate and up-to-the-minute sites of any cancer treatment center in the country," says Wallace Akerley, M.D., the medical director of HCI's clinical trials office. "Trial status changes all the time—trials are open to recruitment, trials can close to recruitment, trials may be suspended. HCI's website reports the state of each trial accurately. Then we went one step further— we translated that website into a mobile version, one that's not only accurate, but easily accessible on smartphones and tablets."

Here is what you can do on your smartphone or tablet when you connect to www.huntsmancancer.org/mobiletrials:

• Find a clinical trial for your specific cancer type. Simply select the site of your cancer from a pop-up list, such as breast, lung, or brain.

• Find a clinical trial based on phase. Phase I trials are the most experimental; trying new treatments that are many times being tested for the first time in humans. Phase II trials begin once an appropriate dosage of the drug is defined through Phase I trials. In this stage of testing, researchers determine the drug's effectiveness in treating a specific kind and stage of cancer. Phase III studies test therapies that have proven to be effective in the first two stages of testing and take it one step further—often in large, multi-site trials that test the new therapy against a standard therapy.

• Find a clinical trial based on the name of the physician. You may have heard from someone else about an HCI physician that treats your disease and are interested in the research he or she is performing.

• Share the link easily with friends, family members, and physicians who may be interested. Simply copy the link and paste it into a text message.

Can't find your cancer site on the disease list? It may be included in a broader category. For example, colon, pancreas, and liver cancers are all classified under "Gastrointestinal" cancers; ovarian, uterine and endometrial cancers are classified as "Gynecological"; and prostate and kidney cancers are classified as "Genitourinary."

Once you find a clinical trial that interests you, simply click on it and you'll find out more about the trial, for example, who the physician is, what the trial's objective is, if you're eligible, and a phone number to call. And, if you need more information, you can click on "View Full HTML site"; it will take you to HCI's full clinical trials website.

"It's a new world out there for cancer patients," Akerley explains. "With this new web service, we're bringing exciting new treatments faster than ever to the patients who need them."

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The mission of Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah is to understand cancer from its beginnings, to use that knowledge in the creation and improvement of cancer treatments, to relieve the suffering of cancer patients, and to provide education about cancer risk, prevention, and care. HCI is a National Cancer Institute-Designated cancer center, which means that it meets the highest national standards for cancer care and research and receives support for its scientific endeavors. HCI is also a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), a not-for-profit alliance of the world's leading cancer centers that is dedicated to improving the quality and effectiveness of care provided to patients with cancer. For more information about HCI, please visit www.huntsmancancer.org.