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NEW! Clinical Trial Finder!

› Forums › General Melanoma Community › NEW! Clinical Trial Finder!

  • Post
    • February 2, 2014 at 8:58 pm
    POW
    Participant

      Momrn5 just posted this link to what she correctly refered to as the "Melanoma Therapy Finder". 

      You can access it at  http://therapy.collabrx.com/melanoma or, even better, at Mom's original MedPageToday link. 

      Indeed, this online tool can help you find various treatment options for melanoma, the manufacturer and whether or not it is FDA approved. Thanks, Momrn5! Great catch!

      But what's even better (and the reason I am posting this again here) is that it is also an interactive clinical trial finder! You can enter your melanoma stage, location of mets and your GENE MUTATIONS and it will present you with a list of possible clinical trials. If you choose BRAF mutation, it will also ask you if you have already taken a BRAF inhibitor and then present you only with clinical trials for those who had BRAF inhibitors. If you are presented with a long list, you can click on the name of the study drug (like MEK162, for example) and it will sort the list to show all the MEK162 trials as a group.

      This is exactly what I was suggesting in a post last week suggesting that we lobby for a better clinical trial finder than clinicaltrials.gov.  

       Thank you to Drs. David Fisher and Keith Flaherty and their team for creating this wonderful tool and to Momrn5 for bringing it to our attention. I strongly suggest that MIF add a link to this site on their "Resources" page.  

       

    Viewing 2 reply threads
    • Replies
        • February 2, 2014 at 9:08 pm
        kylez
        Participant

          The MRF  link is here: http://www.melanoma.org/understand-melanoma/melanoma-treatment/clinical-trials (green button).

          I tried this service ago when I was adjuvant. I was impressed — they found a CDK4/CDK6 trial I had a good chance of qualifying for. My oncologist and I ultimately decided against it.

          Not sure why MIF is does not encourage the use of clinical trial finder services like this. I do get the impression that this service (by EmergingMed) gets incentivized to make successful matches. Which I'm sure is as it should be.

          I was impressed by how fine-grained they were and their lack of false hits. They found about 6 for me, which, with an adjuvant diagnosis at that time, were not easy finds.

           

           

            • February 2, 2014 at 10:20 pm
            Cooper
            Participant

              Emerging Med is paid by Pharma to locate.match trials for all cancers.  I heard MIF doesn't feel it is as useful as their personalized service for melanoma only.  I found some mistakes when I tried the Collabrx one, so beware of that.   MIF helped me find the exact trial that fit my situation, it is far more difficult than you realize at first unless you really know melanoma.

              • February 3, 2014 at 1:55 am
              Momrn5
              Participant

                Any service like this is a plus for people such as myself who are new to the diagnosis.  I would also use other avenues  to find services, but this Trial Finder is makes it a little easier to wade through many of the trials that are out there now for melanoma.  I think it is helpful.  Possibly not completely accurate as you have stated, but I do read that things are moving so fast in Melanoma treatment and trials, that even the doctors can't keep up. So, this is just another tool to put in the toolbox. 

                • February 3, 2014 at 2:08 am
                POW
                Participant

                  I agree with you completely, Momrn5. The "Treatment Finder" may not be perfect, but it is extremely helpful, especially because they filter the results based on your gene mutation status. Even Clinicaltrials.gov (which is definitely not supported by pharmaceutical companies) is not perfect– they admit that they have trouble keeping their site up to date.

                  I hope that anyone interested in clinical trials would explore several avenues of information starting with their oncologist. The MIF Helpline is another great resource (see: http://melanomainternational.org/web-resources/clinical-trials/#.Uu74ACjiowE ) . Plus clincialtrials.gov and, of course, right here on MPIP. 

                  While none of them may be perfect, as a group I think they will cover all the bases. 

                  • February 3, 2014 at 1:14 pm
                  Cooper
                  Participant

                    I agree you need to check out different sources for trials.  I also saw that MIF gives scholarships for travel and lodging to help with the burden.  http://melanomainternational.org/who-we-are/patient-access-grants-apply/

                     

                    • February 3, 2014 at 1:14 pm
                    Cooper
                    Participant

                      I agree you need to check out different sources for trials.  I also saw that MIF gives scholarships for travel and lodging to help with the burden.  http://melanomainternational.org/who-we-are/patient-access-grants-apply/

                       

                      • February 3, 2014 at 1:14 pm
                      Cooper
                      Participant

                        I agree you need to check out different sources for trials.  I also saw that MIF gives scholarships for travel and lodging to help with the burden.  http://melanomainternational.org/who-we-are/patient-access-grants-apply/

                         

                        • February 3, 2014 at 2:08 am
                        POW
                        Participant

                          I agree with you completely, Momrn5. The "Treatment Finder" may not be perfect, but it is extremely helpful, especially because they filter the results based on your gene mutation status. Even Clinicaltrials.gov (which is definitely not supported by pharmaceutical companies) is not perfect– they admit that they have trouble keeping their site up to date.

                          I hope that anyone interested in clinical trials would explore several avenues of information starting with their oncologist. The MIF Helpline is another great resource (see: http://melanomainternational.org/web-resources/clinical-trials/#.Uu74ACjiowE ) . Plus clincialtrials.gov and, of course, right here on MPIP. 

                          While none of them may be perfect, as a group I think they will cover all the bases. 

                          • February 3, 2014 at 2:08 am
                          POW
                          Participant

                            I agree with you completely, Momrn5. The "Treatment Finder" may not be perfect, but it is extremely helpful, especially because they filter the results based on your gene mutation status. Even Clinicaltrials.gov (which is definitely not supported by pharmaceutical companies) is not perfect– they admit that they have trouble keeping their site up to date.

                            I hope that anyone interested in clinical trials would explore several avenues of information starting with their oncologist. The MIF Helpline is another great resource (see: http://melanomainternational.org/web-resources/clinical-trials/#.Uu74ACjiowE ) . Plus clincialtrials.gov and, of course, right here on MPIP. 

                            While none of them may be perfect, as a group I think they will cover all the bases. 

                            • February 3, 2014 at 1:55 am
                            Momrn5
                            Participant

                              Any service like this is a plus for people such as myself who are new to the diagnosis.  I would also use other avenues  to find services, but this Trial Finder is makes it a little easier to wade through many of the trials that are out there now for melanoma.  I think it is helpful.  Possibly not completely accurate as you have stated, but I do read that things are moving so fast in Melanoma treatment and trials, that even the doctors can't keep up. So, this is just another tool to put in the toolbox. 

                              • February 3, 2014 at 1:55 am
                              Momrn5
                              Participant

                                Any service like this is a plus for people such as myself who are new to the diagnosis.  I would also use other avenues  to find services, but this Trial Finder is makes it a little easier to wade through many of the trials that are out there now for melanoma.  I think it is helpful.  Possibly not completely accurate as you have stated, but I do read that things are moving so fast in Melanoma treatment and trials, that even the doctors can't keep up. So, this is just another tool to put in the toolbox. 

                                • February 2, 2014 at 10:20 pm
                                Cooper
                                Participant

                                  Emerging Med is paid by Pharma to locate.match trials for all cancers.  I heard MIF doesn't feel it is as useful as their personalized service for melanoma only.  I found some mistakes when I tried the Collabrx one, so beware of that.   MIF helped me find the exact trial that fit my situation, it is far more difficult than you realize at first unless you really know melanoma.

                                  • February 2, 2014 at 10:20 pm
                                  Cooper
                                  Participant

                                    Emerging Med is paid by Pharma to locate.match trials for all cancers.  I heard MIF doesn't feel it is as useful as their personalized service for melanoma only.  I found some mistakes when I tried the Collabrx one, so beware of that.   MIF helped me find the exact trial that fit my situation, it is far more difficult than you realize at first unless you really know melanoma.

                                  • February 2, 2014 at 9:08 pm
                                  kylez
                                  Participant

                                    The MRF  link is here: http://www.melanoma.org/understand-melanoma/melanoma-treatment/clinical-trials (green button).

                                    I tried this service ago when I was adjuvant. I was impressed — they found a CDK4/CDK6 trial I had a good chance of qualifying for. My oncologist and I ultimately decided against it.

                                    Not sure why MIF is does not encourage the use of clinical trial finder services like this. I do get the impression that this service (by EmergingMed) gets incentivized to make successful matches. Which I'm sure is as it should be.

                                    I was impressed by how fine-grained they were and their lack of false hits. They found about 6 for me, which, with an adjuvant diagnosis at that time, were not easy finds.

                                     

                                     

                                    • February 2, 2014 at 9:08 pm
                                    kylez
                                    Participant

                                      The MRF  link is here: http://www.melanoma.org/understand-melanoma/melanoma-treatment/clinical-trials (green button).

                                      I tried this service ago when I was adjuvant. I was impressed — they found a CDK4/CDK6 trial I had a good chance of qualifying for. My oncologist and I ultimately decided against it.

                                      Not sure why MIF is does not encourage the use of clinical trial finder services like this. I do get the impression that this service (by EmergingMed) gets incentivized to make successful matches. Which I'm sure is as it should be.

                                      I was impressed by how fine-grained they were and their lack of false hits. They found about 6 for me, which, with an adjuvant diagnosis at that time, were not easy finds.

                                       

                                       

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