INSIGHT-FULL

Brief description:

Clinical trials are designed to improve patient outcomes with the ultimate global priority to reduce cancer related morbidity and mortality. They are integral to advancement of patient care and central to regulatory approvals. More importantly, from the patient perspective they offer the potential benefit of a new drug or treatment regimen that they may not otherwise have had access to. Despite the recognition of their importance, barriers to trial participation persist. In New Zealand, it is estimated less than 5% of adult patients with cancer are involved in clinical trials.

The reasons for low participation and recruitment to clinical trials are varied. It is a multi-faceted problem with clinician, patient and institutional factors all contributing. INSIGHT-FULL will build on findings from a national survey completed in 2017 called INSIGHT (Investigating Strategies to Improve Clinical Trial Opportunities in Oncology in New Zealand). Results from the INSIGHT survey showed a strong interest from New Zealand cancer patients to participate in a clinical trial at any stage of their treatment. Therefore, addressing clinician and infrastructure barriers may be the key to improving clinical trial accrual in New Zealand.

The INSIGHT-FULL project will help us to better understand the availability of oncology clinical trials nationally, and the reasons why patients do and do not participate in clinical trials. Understanding the barriers to trial participation for New Zealand cancer patients is the first step to developing strategies to improve clinical trial recruitment rates nationally.

The objectives of this study are:

1. To determine the proportion of New Zealand patients with cancer offered participation in a clinical trial of systemic therapy.
2. To determine the number and proportion of New Zealand patients with cancer enrolled in a clinical trial of systemic therapy.
3. To determine the reasons clinical trials are not offered to cancer patients in New Zealand.
4. To determine the reasons New Zealand cancer patients do not wish to participate in clinical trials.
5. To determine the proportion of NZ patients with cancer offered and enrolled in clinical trials by: geographic region, ethnicity, age, gender

To determine the number of open clinical trials recruiting participants in New Zealand by geographic area and tumour site