In an effort to understand the clinical research landscape in oncology in Brazil, the CURA Project Institute conducted a scientific study in partnership with LACOG - Latin American Cooperative Oncology Group, entitled “Current scenario and future perspectives of clinical research in Brazil: a national survey”.

Led by the lead author, Dr. Heloisa Resende, Oncologist and Researcher, member of the Latin American Cooperative Oncology Group (LACOG) and President of the Scientific Committee of the CURA Project Institute, in collaboration with a team of renowned researchers, the study aimed to evaluate the current behaviors and future trends of Brazilian oncologists in relation to clinical research in the care of their cancer patients.

The initial segment of the research focused on gathering information about demographic details, medical education, and prior participation in research. The subsequent part addressed the main barriers to involvement and participation in clinical trials in Brazil.

The findings of this study were published in the renowned journal eCancer Medical Science, showing the importance of research in the scientific community, and Dr. Heloisa Resende played a fundamental role in advancing this initiative. Check out the publication by accessing the link.

A notable achievement was the acceptance of this research for publication at ASCO 2023, the annual congress of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the largest gathering of oncology professionals in the world, held in Chicago, USA, on June 2.

Check out the video of Dr. Heloisa Resende (Jardim Amália Research Center) talking about the study “A national survey of the current scenario and future perspectives of cancer research in Brazil” presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting 2023.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CtZ0oMcrwy

The main findings of the research clarify the following aspects:

- Demography of the participating doctors: Most of the doctors involved in the study work predominantly in capital cities and are linked exclusively to private health services. 57% of the interviewees work in the Southeast region and 77% in the capitals.

- Communication on Clinical Research: 1/3 of the doctors interviewed refer less than 1% of your patients to participate in clinical research

- The results of the study suggest a clear need for greater involvement of doctors in clinical research activities in Brazil. Strategies for patient education are identified as crucial to improve low recruitment rates and, consequently, increase the number of proposed trials in the country.

Here is the summary of the publication “Current scenario and future perspectives of clinical research in Brazil: a national survey”

Contexts: Epidemiological and clinical cancer research is essential for understanding tumor behavior and the development of new therapies in oncology. However, several countries, including Brazil, as well as many other regions of the world, have limited participation in clinical studies on cancer. Although 625,000 new cancer cases were registered in Brazil in 2022, only 2.2% of ongoing cancer clinical trials are available in the country. We conducted an online survey to describe the involvement of doctors with clinical research and to identify the main barriers that prevent the participation and conduct of clinical studies on cancer in the country.

Methods: An anonymous online survey with 23 objective questions was sent by e-mail to Brazilian members of the Latin American Cooperative Oncology Group and the Brazilian Society of Clinical Oncology. The first 13 questions addressed demographic information, medical education, and previous participation in research. In the second part, the main barriers to engagement and participation in clinical trials in Brazil were discussed. Continuous variables were measured by median and amplitude. The analyses were performed using the SAS statistical software (version 9.4; SAS Institute, Inc. Cary, NC).

Results: 109 doctors answered the survey. Most of the participants were oncologists (N = 98, 89.9%), resided in capitals (N = 84, 77.1%), came from the Southeastern region of Brazil (N = 63, 57.8%) and worked in institutions that provided exclusively private care (N = 59, 54.1%). Of the 109 interviewees, 83 (76.1%) reported working in research centers (as researchers or sub-researchers). Surprisingly, 31.2% of doctors recognized that they invite less than 1% of their patients to participate in clinical trials, although 98 (89.9%) consider patient participation in clinical trials to be extremely relevant. The main barriers to conducting research in the country were the low number of available trials (48.2%) and the lack of qualified human resources to equip research sites (22.9%). Other barriers reported were the lengthy regulatory approval process (42.2%), followed by patients' lack of knowledge of clinical research, resulting in low recruitment rates (24.1%). Of the 26 (23.8%) interviewees who do not work with research, 25 (96.1%) reported interest in getting involved, 31.8% had already tried to participate in research, and 62.4% reported limited knowledge of clinical trial procedures.

Conclusion: These results suggest a clear need for greater involvement of physicians in clinical research activities in Brazil. Patient education strategies should improve low recruitment rates and, secondarily, increase the number of trials proposed in the country.

Authors:
Heloisa Resende, Taiane Francieli Rebelatto, Gustavo Werutsky, Gustavo Cartaxo de Lima Gössling, Vinícius Aguiar, Guilherme Lopes, Biazi Assis, Lilian Martins Arruda, Carlos H. Barrios

Source: https://ecancer.org/en/journal/article/1640-current-scenario-and-future-perspectives-of-clinical-research-in-brazil-a-national-survey

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