2006 Institute Annual Report > Highlights > Highlights - Research

Accelerating innovation, learning and improvements in health

	Researchers like Norma Hocking, RN, (left) and Joseph Leach, MD, improve patient care by bringing their discoveries to doctors' offices as quickly as possible.

From discovery to treatment

People with advanced kidney cancer have few treatment options. According to Joseph Leach, MD, medical director of Park Nicollet Institute’s oncology research program, traditional treatment for this cancer is challenging for patients and only marginally successful. “Fifteen percent of those receiving traditional biologic treatment for advanced kidney cancer respond,” says Leach. “That means 85 percent of patients going through this treatment, suffering formidable side effects, do not benefit.”

Better options are needed — now. “For some people with cancer, their futures are measured in weeks and months,” said Karen Swenson, PhD, research scientist for the Institute. “We need to move from discovery to active treatment as quickly as possible.”

Cancer research at Park Nicollet is performed through the Institute’s oncology research program and the Metro-MN Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP), which conducts research at ten metro-area hospitals. These scientists study ways to improve the health and experiences for patients with cancer and quickly bring those findings into clinical practice.

More options, more hope
Bayer Pharmaceuticals developed Nexavar, a drug designed to improve care for patients with advanced kidney cancer. In a Phase III national study, CCOP researchers compared Nexavar to standard treatment. Findings showed the drug significantly slowed the spread of advanced kidney cancer in the majority of patients.
 
Within months of the availability of the study data, our researchers began enrolling patients in an expanded access study for Nexavar. The goal was to obtain additional safety information and allow patients to use the drug while awaiting approval by the Federal Drug Administration.

Nexavar was approved for sale in January 2006 and Park Nicollet clinicians immediately began offering it to patients. “Nexavar gives us another option to help patients, to improve their quality and length of life,” said Leach. Norma Hocking, research nurse, adds, “In the past, we couldn’t treat many elderly people because the side effects were intolerable. Following this study, we can offer treatment that requires fewer office visits and results in less severe side effects — treatment that is more manageable for patients and their families.”

Every new treatment brings hope for people with cancer. Translating knowledge from the scientists to the doctors in less than a year resulted in more and better options for patients — and more hope.