Romain Rouillard
modified to
11:39 a.m., October 11, 2023
France, world champion in the fight against cancer? In any case, France is setting itself up as a benchmark in this area, assures Amaury Martin. The deputy director of the Institut Curie, guest of Élisabeth Assayag in France is moving this Monday, called on figures to illustrate French know-how.
“France today represents 13% of global clinical trials in oncology, it’s colossal. And in oncology, we now have several thousand molecules which are under development,” he indicates. The doctor summed up his remarks as follows: “If we had to put a patient in front of each clinical trial, it would be impossible”.
A database”
But this myriad of scientific studies also has a major drawback. “In France, there are more than 2,000 clinical trials currently being recruited. However, it is very difficult for a general oncologist, who deals with the lung, breast, prostate, colon, to know very well specifies clinical trials concerning breast cancer, compared to an expert who only works on this cancer all day”, explains Patricia Rigaud, founder of the “AccessTrial.care” platform intended to support doctors, sometimes overwhelmed by the exponential progression of research.
“This platform will list, in the form of a database, files on clinical trials currently being recruited with information on the treatments, on the modalities, what the patients will have to do, will they have to come to the hospital , what type of analyzes will they be subjected to or not”, she lists. In this way, the doctor will be able to “fill in the patient’s profile”, via “machine learning” which will direct the practitioner “towards the corresponding clinical trials”.
Amaury Martin wants to reassure about data collection
With an additional parameter: “A precise location of where the doctor is”, specifies Patricia Rigaud. An initiative that Amaury Martin welcomes, deeming this platform “essential” and believing that, for a patient, being included in a clinical trial was “a real chance”.
Faced with the distrust that such data collection could arouse, the doctor wants to be reassuring. “We should not be afraid of it. Because when we ask people the question ‘Do you want to consent to your medical data being used by researchers’, I am not saying commercialized or resold to third parties, I am saying ‘used’, that moves things forward.”