North Tees and South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trusts are now part of the Tees Valley Research Alliance (TVRA). This strategic and operational alliance combines the research and development departments from both acute trusts into one overarching department, which operates across both trusts.
The alliance creates an efficient research set up and delivery service, with the aim of sharing information on studies. Within the TVRA is the Cancer Research Team which works across both Trusts and has 18 members, the Team work on drug, radiotherapy, surgical, genetic and quality of life research across a range of cancers.
In addition to the research staff there are staff in support services such as pathology, pharmacy, nuclear medicine, cardiology, ophthalmology, psychology, radiology and radiotherapy that help to deliver this research. It is a team effort to bring research to the communities we serve so that patients have the option of entering a research study as part of their treatment.
What is a clinical trial?
A clinical trial is a research study that looks at how safe and effective new treatments or procedures are. These can include new medications, devices, vaccines, tests, or treatment approaches. By taking part in a clinical trial, you may receive treatments that are not yet available to the public, giving you the chance to improve your own health while helping advance research that could benefit other patients in the future.
All clinical trials follow strict guidelines to make sure they are conducted safely and ethically. Before a trial is offered to patients, it goes through several stages of testing and approval by national organisations. While there can be some risks, every patient is closely monitored during and after the trial to catch and manage any issues that might come up.
Participation is completely voluntary, and you are free to leave the trial at any time, without needing to explain why. You will only be invited to join a clinical trial if your medical team believes it could help you.
Current trials
Trials in follow up
In addition to our open and recruiting trials we have 52 trials that are currently in follow up as we support patients through their whole trial journey.
How have our trials changed clinical practice
Stampede Trial. Since it opened in 2005, until the final arms closed to recruitment in March 2023 almost 12,000 men have participated in the STAMPEDE trial across 10 different comparisons. New findings from the STAMPEDE trial have confirmed that use of abiraterone remains the best option without the addition of enzalutamide. These results from the STAMPEDE trial were published in Lancet Oncology in early May 2023.
Myeloma XI. This trial looked at lenalidomide, carfilzomib, bortezomib and vorinostat for people having intensive treatment for newly diagnosed myeloma.
More information
If you would like more information on any of the trials we currently have running in oncology, please contact Dr Sarah Essex, Cancer Research Team Lead.
Telephone: 01642 835986
Email: [email protected]