Inside a brick building in Huntersville, Physicians and researchers are driving some of the most exciting cancer research in the country. But on the outside of the building is an unfamiliar name: Carolina Bio-Oncology Institute. Although we do not carry the name of a major hospital system, our small size and independence make us one of the most agile and efficient Phase 1 clinical trial centers.
For nearly 20 years, people from the region have come here to be the first in the world to take advantage of immunotherapies that are revolutionizing cancer treatment. Patients meet with clinicians who can participate in clinical trials for lung cancer, skin cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, and other types of solid tumors without having to go to a major hospital in a large city.
Carolina BioOncology Institute offers approximately 25 different clinical trials at a time. The cancer treatments in today’s headlines were first used there years ago, and tomorrow’s breakthrough treatments are still available there today.
“All of the cancer drugs you see in NFL Super Bowl ads are the same drugs that we gave our first dose 10, 15, or 19 years ago,” said Carolina Bio-Oncology Institute founder. says Dr. John Powdery, director and oncologist. .
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When the Carolina Bio-Oncology Institute opened in 2005; Charlotte’s cancer treatment was a completely different situation. Dr. Powderly saw great potential in a new treatment, immunotherapy, and wanted to establish a center to further his research. The company filled a gap in patient care by establishing a Phase 1 clinical trial center in Charlotte, the nation’s largest city that had no medical school.
Charlotte was the perfect location to open a research center specializing in immunotherapy for solid tumors. Immunotherapy is particularly effective at attacking rapidly mutating tumors, especially those of the skin and lungs. Here in the former tobacco belt of the Sunbelt, these cancers are rampant. Clinical trials at Carolina Bio-Oncology Institute are providing the treatments patients need to fight their cancers.
Thanks to these immunotherapy clinical trials, amazing advances have been made in the treatment of lung and skin cancers since then, and many of these immunotherapy drugs are now FDA-approved standard treatments. Today, new cancer threats are emerging. Colorectal cancer (including both colon and rectal cancer) is becoming increasingly common among young patients. With cancer screenings postponed during the pandemic, oncologists are seeing patients who are only diagnosed with colorectal cancer after it has progressed to an advanced stage. Finding effective immunotherapy treatments for metastatic colorectal cancer is a core mission of the Carolina Bio-Oncology Institute.
“Previous versions of immunotherapy were ineffective against colon cancer, but we now know how colon cancer hides from the immune system through other pathways,” Dr. Powderly says. . “We are having early success in devising other systems of immunotherapy drugs, which is good news.”
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Just as tumors mutate over time, Trends in cancer are similar, with different types and stages of tumors becoming more prevalent. Like them, Carolina BioOncology Institute has an expedited process to get patients the trials they need, when they need them. Our team of PhDs, clinicians, biomedical engineers, certified clinical researchers, and more work together quickly without the bureaucratic constraints of large institutions. While large hospitals may take months to enroll patients into clinical trials, here it takes days to weeks. Normally in a hospital, one nurse supports multiple patients at the same time, but here the “one nurse to one patient” rule creates a close relationship between healthcare workers and patients. A bond is formed.
“There is a huge need right now for efficient phase 1 clinical trial centers, and we have captured that trophy,” says Dr. Powderly. “The hospital system is like an aircraft carrier, and we operate like special forces. That’s right off the bat.”
Learn more about Carolina Bio-Oncology Institute here.