The Prostate Health Education Network (PHEN) announces a special “Clinical Trials Rally” initiative to increase African American participation in prostate cancer clinical trials.
The prostate cancer death rate among black men is 2.3 times greater than for men of any other racial or ethnic group within the United States according to National Cancer Institute statistics; this is the largest racial disparity for any type of cancer for men or women.
However, this population’s participation in clinical trials for new treatments rarely reaches the level of statistical significance, meaning that the data from these trials do not definitively determine the effectiveness of these treatments for black men. This is an increasingly urgent problem for the population most impacted by prostate cancer and in need of treatment breakthroughs.
Pharmaceutical organizations that are currently providing prostate cancer therapies and leading the research efforts to develop new therapies are supporting the launch of this new PHEN initiative. These include: Astellas, Bayer Healthcare, Janssen Biotech, Inc., and Medivation (now part of Pfizer). Other organizations will be invited to join this effort after it is launched. (visit: www.phentrials.com)
PHEN implements education, awareness and support initiatives within communities throughout the country by working with African American churches, pharmaceutical partners and cancer treatment and research institutions. In addition, PHEN has a national network of African American prostate cancer survivors and caregivers who support its efforts. These are key parties needed to carry out successful prostate cancer clinical trials, currently working together through PHEN. The Clinical Trials Rally expands PHEN’s ongoing activities with these partners to include a focus on increasing the participation of African American men in clinical trials.
“With important partnerships already in place, PHEN is uniquely positioned to tackle one of today’s most pressing challenges for developing new prostate cancer therapies that will meet the needs of black men based on scientific evidence,” says Thomas Farrington, PHEN’s founder and president.
“Astellas is pleased to expand our collaboration with PHEN and support the Clinical Trials Rally. We are committed to working with PHEN to increase awareness of clinical trials within the African American community,” says Dr. Hong Tang, Astellas Executive Medical Director, Oncology.
Patients are encouraged to learn more about clinical trials and all about the benefits and risk of enrolling in a trial. PHEN provides this information to you at: www.PHENTrials.com
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