Clinical trials are a key research tool for advancing medical knowledge and patient care. Clinical research is done only if doctors do not know whether a new approach works well in people and is safe, and which treatments or strategies work best for certain illnesses or groups of people. Without clinical trials, studies, and translational science, many of the advancements we have today for treating cancer and other diseases like heart disease, Alzheimer’s, etc. wouldn’t exist.
Currently, Dr. Kumthekar is involved in and leads many clinical trials including a phase-0 study she is the principal investigator on that is proving to move the needle forward in how brain cancer such as glioblastoma (GBM) is treated. In the past decade, no new drugs have been approved for the fatal brain cancer. But the scientists at Northwestern, led by Dr. Kumthekar, are eager to change that with the drug, NU-0129, designed at Northwestern. An early clinical study found that the spherical nucleic acid drug (NU-0129) kills tumor cells in people with GBM. This is the first time a nanotherapeutic has been shown to cross the blood-brain barrier and causes cell death.
Resources from Ep. 3:
Clinical Trials
Articles:
For more resources mentioned in this episode visit: brainsforthecure.org

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