Dr. Wainberg on the Need for Continued Enrollment to Clinical Trials in CRC

Zev A. Wainberg, MD, associate professor of medicine and surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), co-director, UCLA Gastrointestinal Oncology Program, director, Early Phase Clinical Research Program, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the importance of enrolling patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) to clinical trials, despite the difficulties caused by COVID-19. 

All clinical trials at academic centers have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in different ways, however, it is still important to enroll patients with CRC to these trials to produce more data and develop new drugs, according to Wainberg. Unfortunately, clinical trial success for patients with third-line CRC has been limited, and because of this, very few international trials are being conducted, Wainberg explains.

Often, patients will be treated with regorafenib (Stivarga) or trifluridine/tipiracil (TAS-102; Lonsurf) in the third-line setting before moving on to a clinical trial, Wainberg continues. It is important to continue to enroll eligible patients to these trials and to continue to follow FDA safety guidelines, such as decreasing unnecessary visits to the clinical sites amidst the pandemic, Wainberg concludes.