PhRMA, Roswell Park Cancer Institute Announce Release of ‘Research in Your Backyard

More Than 7,000 Clinical Trials Conducted by NY Institutions, Industry Collaborators Since 1999, Report Notes

Buffalo, N.Y. (June 26, 2013) – America’s biopharmaceutical research companies have conducted more than 7,000 clinical trials of new medicines in New York over the last 13 years, working in collaboration with academic institutions, patient advocates, hospitals and clinical research facilities. That’s the main finding of “Research in Your Backyard: Pharmaceutical Clinical Trials in New York,” a new report by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), which was released today at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI).

PhRMA spokesperson Kaelan Hollon was joined by state Assemblyman Robin Schimminger, state Senators Mark Grisanti and Tim Kennedy, RPCI clinician-researcher Dr. Myron S. Czuczman and a patient of Dr. Czuczman’s for a press event announcing the findings. Of those 7,000 industry-sponsored clinical trials, the report notes, more than 750 were conducted in Buffalo, at institutions such as RPCI, the University at Buffalo, the Women’s and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo and Buffalo General Medical Center.

“New York is a model for the sort of public-private partnerships that make clinical trials work, and it has paid off — the state hosts more than a third of all clinical trials in the nation,” said PhRMA’s Hollon. “Buffalo has hosted nearly 750 clinical trials since 1999, and continues to strengthen the relationships between local biopharmaceutical research facilities, academia, hospitals and patient groups in the area. Roswell Park Cancer Institute is a great example of this, and today’s report is an exciting explanation of how clinical trials impact Buffalo's patients and economy.”

“Clinical trials give patients access to therapies that rely on the latest medical evidence and the newest approaches — access they wouldn’t have without these studies,” noted Dr. Czuczman, who is Head of the Lymphoma Translational Research Laboratory within the Department of Immunology and Chief of the Lymphoma/Myeloma Service at RPCI. “We have seen many great advances in cancer treatment from the participation of patients in clinical trials available to them at Roswell Park. We’re helping to advance care not just for Western New Yorkers but for cancer patients around the world.”

“When I found out I had lymphoma in 2003, I had no idea what my options were or what my future would hold. Today, my cancer has been in remission for almost 10 years thanks to the study that I took part in at Roswell Park, and I’ve been able to return to the life that my cancer threatened,” said Joseph Buccilli, a lymphoma survivor treated at RPCI. “I learned that there are thousands of clinical trials being conducted in my region at any given time — studies that give hope to so many who have a story similar to mine.”

Highlights of the report include:

Western New York researchers are currently conducting 51 trials of new cancer medicines, many of which still have openings for additional participants. In New York, more than 108,000 new cancer cases will be diagnosed this year, and an estimated 34,240 New Yorkers will die from their cancers, according to the American Cancer Society. 

 
There are currently five active clinical trials for new diabetes treatments in the Buffalo area. About 8.5 percent of all New Yorkers have diabetes, and many of them do not even know it. According to figures from the New York Department of Health and Human services, more than 1 million New York adults have been diagnosed with diabetes, and officials believe another 450,000 cases go undiagnosed.
The Buffalo-Niagara region is home to nine current clinical trials focused on mental illness. In New York, more than 673,000 adults live with serious mental illness, and about 204,000 children live with serious mental-health conditions, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

For a listing of clinical trials recruiting patients and their locations in New York, consult the appendix of the “Research in Your Backyard” report, which can be found at www.phrma.org/innovation/research-in-your-backyard. New York clinical-trial information can also be found at www.clinicaltrials.gov, the trials database of the National Institutes of Health. For clinical research studies conducted at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, visit: www.roswellpark.org/clinical-trials.