Whilst there has been considerable success in decreasing overall cancer mortality rates through improved and earlier screening, many cancers remain resistant to current treatments. Each of the current therapy options, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery, has drawbacks that make them unsuitable for too many patients. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are toxic to normal as well as cancer cells, thus reducing the therapy’s efficacy, and producing unpleasant side-effects that decrease quality of life and may even limit the patient’s capacity for continuing treatment. Surgery is invasive, and may result in disfigurement and a resulting deep distress.
Thus there is a growing need for more sophisticated, targeted cancer therapies that are able to more specifically and effectively destroy cancer cells, and do not limit the cancer patient’s quality of life. LICR is conducting and sponsoring its own early phase clinical trials of targeted therapies, which LICR believes will extend and improve the current arsenal of therapy options.
Clinical Trial Model
LICR believes that clinical research in cancer cannot be undertaken as simply product development, but rather requires a systematic, academic approach to develop rational therapeutic strategies in the only setting that really counts – the cancer patient. LICR is one of very few academic organizations, anywhere in the world, that produces its own regulatory-standard therapeutic study agents, and plans, conducts, administers, and sponsors its own clinical trials. This model allows basic investigations to continue into early stage clinical evaluation of a new therapy, making the clinic an essential arm of the research enterprise.
LICR is currently exploring three separate cancer treatment modalities: cancer vaccines, targeted antibodies, and small molecule inhibitors. These targeted therapies are designed to prevent the growth of tumors and the spread of cancer, without the dangerous and unpleasant side effects of current cancer therapies.
- Targeted Antibodies
- Cancer Vaccines
- Small Molecule Inhibitors
Biological Production Facilities
Study agents utilized in the LICR Clinical Trials Program must meet the highest production standards to ensure safety and consistency before they are administered to human volunteers. Therefore, LICR has established two Biological Production Facilities (BPF) to produce reagents, including peptides, proteins, and small molecules, for use in the LICR Clinical Trials Program.
Cancer Patient Resources
LICR is not able to provide medical and treatment information for cancer patients and their families. We suggest the following links for information on diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment options for cancer. Please note that although we link to sites that we believe offer credible and responsible information, LICR cannot endorse any products or services found within these links, nor can we guarantee that the information is correct, or up-to-date.