BreastCancerTrials.org gets an update

After officially launching in 2008, BreastCancerTrials.org, the nonprofit clinical trials matching service, got an update this year with additional features, which includes an easier way to filter trials for interested patients looking to participate in clinical studies. Patients with metastatic, inflammatory or triple-negative breast cancer will also find it much easier to identify a clinical trial.The site was originally designed to raise awareness of clinical trials and to provide an easy, free tool to connect a patient to an appropriate trial. The site includes information on participating in clinical trials, resources and clinical trials that are actively recruiting. Knowing that all of the trials featured on BreastCancerTrials.org is open and accepting patients is a huge benefit over other portals. We at CURE typically highlight certain trials for our tumor type features and it's very discouraging when we find promising clinical trials, track down the investigator and find out that the study has already reached accrual or has been closed. I imagine for a patient, that could be not only frustrating, but devastating.Another equally frustrating aspect of searching for clinical trials is finding one and then learning that it's halfway across the country. On BreastCancerTrials.org patients can search for studies by their location (zip code). Each trial listing also offers details about the study, how many planned visits are expected and how far the patient would have to travel. There is also a listing for studies that requires no visits -- these may include studies that rely on online surveys, telephone interviews and mail-in swabs.Users visiting the site have the option of finding a trial if they are at high-risk for breast cancer, newly diagnosed, in treatment, on maintenance therapy, post treatment or if they have metastatic disease. Elly Cohen, PhD, program director for BreastCancerTrials.org, said the site currently features more than 530 clinical trials, but they are changing all the time as closed studies are removed from the site and new trials are added.The beauty of the site is the numerous filters embedded in the tool. If a user who is newly diagnosed is searching for a study, the tool will ask if this is a first diagnosis, recurrence or second diagnosis, which would affect the type of study the patient would qualify for. Likewise, a woman with metastatic breast cancer would be asked where the cancer has spread before offering her dozens of clinical trial opportunities that may not appropriate. It puts the user in a better position to sort through qualified trials, which they can then save, print or email to their support team or physician for discussion.Cohen mentions that future updates will include filtering trials by biomarkers, such as HER2 status and hormone status.In addition to the website, the organization also has a Facebook page, where they post new trials added to their system. You can learn more at BreastCancerTrials.org. You can read more on the original launch of the program here.