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Cancer Clinical Trials Offer Treatment Opportunities (Article 5) |
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Each year, about 12,000 TRICARE beneficiaries are diagnosed with cancer.
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Some of these patients, about one percent each year, take part in clinical trials offered through a partnership between the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Department of Defense (DoD). These patients may benefit from the latest in medical treatments offered in the clinical trials.
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“Clinical trials give providers the chance to offer cutting-edge treatments for serious cancers,” said Army Col. John Kugler, M.D., Deputy Medical Director, Office of the Chief Medical Officer, TRICARE Management Activity.
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Through the DoD/NCI Cancer Clinical Trials Demonstration Project, TRICARE beneficiaries can participate in Phase II and Phase III NCI-sponsored trials. Phase II trials focus on and study a particular type of cancer and provide information on a specific treatment. Phase III trials compare promising new treatments against standard treatments.
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Your patients have several important rights throughout a clinical trial, including the right to know the facts about the study they are participating in, the right to leave the study at any time and the right not to be harmed by the study’s activities.
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“In addition, no patient will receive placebos or go without treatment when a standard cancer therapy is available,”
Kugler said.
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More than 2,000 health care facilities around the country, including military hospitals, participate in clinical trials sponsored by the NCI. Costs for screening tests to determine clinical trial eligibility, as well as associated costs of participation in the clinical trials, are covered by an interagency agreement.
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To learn more about clinical trials, call the DoD Cancer Trials Demonstration Coordinator for the South Region at
1-800-779-3060. Or, you can call the NCI’s Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237) Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., local time. Dual-eligible beneficiaries (eligible for both TRICARE and Medicare) should call
1-608-301-3243.
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For the latest news in cancer research and general information on clinical trials, visit www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials. You can also search for trials using specific criteria, including the trial’s location. |
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Contacts (Article 6) |
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Created: August 6, 2007
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