Hello,
today I received confirmation of my TNBC diagnostic. I was expecting this but it’s still a blow. I was due to meet with the oncologist but appointment was cancelled 30 minutes beforehand as I was informed that I have been put forward for a Clinical Trial called Barbican (ironically it is one of my favourites building in London) and then would need to meet with the oncologist running the trial Dr P. Schmidt.
It was unexpected so said I was interesting but would need additional information.
Has anyone been involved in clinical trials?
This may be a good opportunity.
Thanks
Aurore
Hi Aurore,
The below might help you come up with a question list to discuss with the oncologist, so that you can clarify matters relating to the trial before deciding. From the NHS website it sounds like the Barbican Trial involves cancer immunotherapy - link to document below + I’ve underlined an interesting part of the extract from the research summary (cut and pasted below). I’m no expert but it sounds positive to me.
It may be worth calling the nurse on the tel number above (top right hand side) to see if Breast Cancer Now have heard of the study and/or can suggest some useful questions for you to ask the onc, so that you can decide it you want to be part of the trial?
hra.nhs.uk/planning-and-improving-research/application-summaries/research-summaries/barbican/
Extract from the above - Research Summary
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) accounts for approximately 20% of all breast cancers. Treatment results remain relatively poor compared to other breast cancer subtypes and new treatment approaches are needed. Chemotherapy is the main type of treatment but benefits are frequently short-lived with rapid development of resistance. Approximately 40% of patients who receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT – chemotherapy before surgery) achieve a good response at surgery (pathological complete response(pCR)). There is a strong link between pCR and long-term outcome for TNBC. In recent years, significant developments around cancer immunotherapy (CIT) have led to changes in the treatment of cancer. CIT is any treatment that modifies and/or enhances the patient’s immune system to fight cancers. Early results with CIT have shown encouraging activity in TNBC. Combination trials of CIT and chemotherapy have demonstrated high response rates in metastatic disease and high pCR rates in early TNBC, respectively, but experience with other combinations is currently limited. There is increasing data supporting combinations of AKT inhibitors and CIT. BARBICAN will be carried out in approximately 142 women with early TNBC in order to assess the effect of adding an AKT inhibitor (ipatasertib) to the combination of NACT and CIT (atezolizumab) in TNBC. Treatment will be given before surgery. To assess the effect of the treatment, breast cancer samples will be collected before, during and on completion of treatment. Pre-treatment samples can be archived tissue but participants will require additional biopsies in this study. Following surgery patients will be followed up as per normal practice for 5 years. There will be no additional study visits in this period but the research team will collect information on disease and survival status during normal hospital visits. The study will be carried out in 3 countries.
I hope that helps you formulate your questions to get the info you need to decide.
Seabreeze X