Cancer Information

Research at Georgia Cancer Specialists

Approach

In addition to offering patients access to national cooperative group clinical trials and pharmaceutical-based clinical trials—primarily Phase III and IV trials—Georgia Cancer Specialists (GCS) has partnered with the University of Alabama Comprehensive Cancer Center (UABCCC) to bring to Georgia Phase I and II trials, the most novel cancer therapies available.

• GCS takes high-tech, innovative therapies developed in an academic center and brings them to patients in community offices.
• The GCS-UABCCC partnership allows UABCCC to improve accrual of high priority studies while assuring that quality, regulated research is performed. It gives GCS patients access to cutting-edge research and cancer therapies.
• GCS currently conducts research in three offices. It plans to expand research to five sites by year-end.
• GCS offers clinical trials in the major disease categories: lung, breast, lymphoma, colon, and prostate.
• GCS offers patients access to innovative cancer therapies, including antiangiogenesis drugs, which prevent tumors from growing their own blood supplies.
• Because clinical trials are so accessible, an average of 18% of GCS oncology patients participate in research (including GCS trials, community clinical oncology program trials, and stem cell transplants), compared to the national average of 2%.

Please be aware that Phase I trials are not designed to show effectiveness; they are designed to show that the drug is not toxic in humans. Little is known about the drugs in Phase I trials, because this is when they are usually tested in humans for the first time, or are evaluations of a new dosage or new mode of administration.

Focus

The focus of the GCS research department is targeted cancer therapy, which unlike chemotherapy attacks tumor cells selectively.

Milestones

• Through its partnership with UABCCC, GCS is the only private oncology practice in Georgia to offer Phase I clinical trials.
• Dr. Mansoor Saleh, GCS medical oncologist and professor of medicine and pathology at UAB, holds the first Department of Defense grant awarded in the United States to a private practice oncologist for breast cancer research. The practice has partnered with the university and is using the multimillion-dollar grant to establish the GCS-UAB Clinical Trials Network.
• Through its partnership with UABCCC, GCS administered the following novel reagents for the first time in Georgia: C225 anti-EGFR antibody for colon cancer, C225 anti-EGFR + RT for head/neck cancer, C225 anti-EGFR + chemo for head/neck cancer, Radioactive Y2B8 monoclonal antibody for lymphoma, Monoclonal antibody BR96-Doxorubicin immunoconjugate for colon and breast cancer, and STI-571 (also known as Gleevec) for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML).
• Dr. Janice Galleshaw, GCS medical oncologist, is the Principal Investigator for the STAR Trial (Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene) for breast cancer prevention in the Atlanta region. The STAR Trial is the largest randomized clinical study of its kind, with 22,000 women taking part.
• GCS was the 2nd largest accruer worldwide for BCIRG 005 and the third largest accruer in the United States for the SILVA Study, a small cell lung cancer vaccination study.
• Since 2000, the GCS research department has published one manuscript and nine abstracts and has one submitted abstract.

Currently there are five research sites with five lead investigators that monitor all patients on clinical trials. Dr. Mansoor Saleh monitors trials from our Northside location, Dr. Melvin Moore monitors trials from our Stemmer location, Dr. Cheryl Jones monitors trials from our Macon-Coliseum location, Dr. Rodolfo Bordoni monitors trials from our Kennestone location, and Dr. Shyam Khanwani monitors trials from our Fayetteville location. The research team is comprised of physicians and specialized clinical staff trained in research design, data collection, and analysis. Currently, over twenty clinical trials are being conducted with over 200 patients participating.