Grand rounds to explore clinical trials’ role in era of targeted therapies
Are clinical trials passé in the era of targeted therapies?
An expert panel will consider that question at a special Clinical Pharmacology Grand Rounds on Tuesday, Dec. 14, from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. in Light Hall room 208.
The panelists are:
• Elizabeth Heitman, Ph.D., associate professor of Medical Ethics in the Vanderbilt Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society;
• Jeffrey Sosman, M.D., director of the Melanoma and Tumor Immunotherapy Program at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center; and
• Alastair J.J. Wood, M.B., Ch.B., professor emeritus of Medicine and Pharmacology, and a nationally known expert on drug safety.
The panel discussion will be facilitated by Satish Raj, M.D., MSCI, assistant professor of Medicine and Pharmacology.
Randomized, controlled clinical trials for decades have been considered to be the gold standard for proving the efficacy and safety of new medications before they are approved for marketing.
Questions have been raised, however, about the continuing trial of an experimental melanoma drug, PLX4032, which has shown dramatic early results in patients whose tumors have a particular mutation.
Sosman is principal investigator of a multi-center Phase II trial of PLX4032.
For more information, contact Carol Brannon in the Division of Clinical Pharmacology at 936-3420 or carol.e.brannon@vander-bilt.edu.