Please be aware of the following notice and opportunity to join a VA clinical trials listserv.  The listserv ONCOLOGY-POC-L@WWW.LISTSERV.VA.GOV may be found on the second page of VA listservs found at http://www.listserv.va.gov/.  I believe some NPCs have experienced the problem discussed in paragraph three which identifies a resource for solutions.

Many thanks to Ron Flink, contracts manager at CARES in Hines, IL, for forwarding this email to the NAVREF office.

From: Oncology Point of Contact List

[mailto:ONCOLOGY-POC-L@WWW.LISTSERV.VA.GOV] On Behalf Of Kelley, Michael DURVAMC

Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2010 4:20 PM

To: ONCOLOGY-POC-L@WWW.LISTSERV.VA.GOV

Subject: Cancer Clinical Trials

Dear Oncology Colleagues,

One of the most common topics I am asked about is that of access to clinical trials for our veterans with cancer.  Many of you are continuing valiant efforts to provide this access despite the significant challenges in doing so.  I wanted to let you know of several efforts ongoing at the national level in this regard. 

Some time ago, there was an Interagency Agreement between the NCI and VA regarding clinical trials, which expired some time back.  Both agencies have continued to honor most if not all of the provisions of that agreement.  That agreement is being revised and hopefully will be approved later this year. 

Some facilities were experiencing difficulties with local Privacy Officers not approving participation in NCI sponsored cooperative group studies.  Ralph Paxton and others in Office of Research and Development have worked with NCI to resolve this issue.  Essentially, the VA cannot disapprove of patient-consented distribution of their person health information.  However, again today I have heard of another facility that appears to be experiencing this problem.  Please bring any such problems to the attention of Dr. Paxton and myself. 

Another  expired document relevant to cancer clinical trials is the National Cancer Strategy directive.  Revisions to that directive have been long delayed due to discussions about changes relating specifically to clinical trials.  Continuing efforts are being made to complete the revisions and, hopefully, positively affect clinical trial access. 

The need to meet the standard of care by offering access to clinical trials has been discussed with Dr. Randy Petzel, the Undersecretary for Health, the Chiefs of Staff, and the VISN Chief Medical Officers. 

The Oncology Field Advisory Committee has set as a goal for this year to compose a "How To" document for conducting clinical trials in the VA. If you are interested in working on that effort, please contact Dr. Anna Schorer, Chair of the FAC. 

An email list has been established as a means of communicating about VA-related clinical trials.  This is intended to be a forum for sharing of best practices among facilities as well as discussing availability of trials.  Many pharmaceutical companies and individual investigators are interested in finding VA facilities that may be interested in opening clinical trials.  I will send any such inquires I receive to this email list and it would be appropriate for others to do the same. 

I strongly recommend that at least one person from your facility subscribe to this email list.  A VA email address is not required. 

To subscribe go to:

http://www.listserv.va.gov/

then Subscriber's Corner

Be sure to check the Junk Folder as the subscription notices and email from the list may end up there. 

Finally, you may be interested to read the Institute of Medicine's report on the future of the NCI cooperative groups. 

http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2010/A-National-Cancer-Clinical-Trials-System -for-the-21st-Century-Reinvigorating-the-NCI-Cooperative.aspx

Best regards to all,

Mike

Michael J Kelley, MD

National Program Director for Oncology/MSS/PCS

Chief, Hematology/Oncology Durham VAMC

Assoc Prof of Medicine, Duke University

Hematology/Oncology (111G)

508 Fulton St.

Durham, NC 27705

919-286-0411 ext 7326

Oncology Sharepoint

http://vaww.medicalsurgical.wss.va.gov/oncology/

<http://vaww.medicalsurgical.wss.va.gov/oncology/>