Arif Kamal: Only 7% of adults with a cancer diagnosis enroll in a therapeutic clinical trial
Arif Kamal, Chief Patient Officer for the American Cancer Society, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Only 7% of adults with a cancer diagnosis enroll in a therapeutic clinical trial.
And while late-stage clinical trials are about access to innovation, many patients face major barriers with regards to navigating to the right education, resources, and logistics.
Like other challenges faced by people with cancer, we at American Cancer Society believe skillful navigation performed by trained and credentialed experts can help people find their way to the right clinical trial.
As announced in the latest The White House Biden Moonshot Fact Sheet, we are proud to launch in early 2025 the ACS Leadership in Oncology Navigation (LION) Clinical Trials Navigation Certificate.
Building on the momentum of our ACS LION Certificate — which has trained nearly 1,000 navigators across the US — we believe training navigators to address the specific barriers that people face in accessing clinical trials will materially move that 7% number north.”
Erika Hamilton, Medical Oncologist and the Director of Breast Cancer Program at Sarah Cannon Research Institute, reshared the post, adding:
“Don’t love this statistic at all, but love this being discussed.
In stark contrast to pediatric cancer patients, very few adults participate in trials.
This needs to change to continue to advance cancer care, find drugs with less side effects, and increase cure rates and survival length for those with incurable disease.
At Sarah Cannon Research Institute we want clinical trials to be thought of 1st, not last for cancer care. For clinical trials to be discussed in every home well before someone is faced with the overwhelming diagnosis of cancer.
Thanks American Cancer Society for helping in this important effort.”
Arif Kamal is the first-ever Chief Patient Officer for the American Cancer Society and drives efforts to advance cancer care. With experience at Duke University and the Duke Cancer Institute, he is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Population Health.
He is also a Co-Founder of Prepped Health. Dr. Kamal’s expertise lies in oncology quality assessment, palliative care, and innovative technology solutions for patient engagement.
Erika Hamilton is a medical oncologist and the Director of Breast Cancer Program at Sarah Cannon Research Institute (USA). Dr. Hamilton is a past chair of ASCO’s Scientific Breast Committee ’21-’22, participant of the ASCO Leadership Development Program, Associate Editor for Clinical Breast Cancer, co-chair for Great Debates and Updates in Women’s Oncology Conference and a board member of the Susan G. Komen Foundation of Central Tennessee. She is active in the community, volunteering with Gilda’s Club Middle Tennessee, the American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge, Ovarcome ovarian cancer support organization, Brentwood Baptist Church and the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.
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