CONTRIBUTED

FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital is partnering with UNC Lineberger Comprehen-sive Cancer Center on a clinical trial to test a new option for metastatic colorectal cancer (cancer that has spread).

This is a clinical trial of a new drug, regorafenib. Research data from other studies indicates that this drug is helping some patients whose cancer hasn't responded to the usual treatments.

This drug uses a new strategy for targeting metastatic colorectal cancer in patients who have a certain genetic mutation that blocks other newer treatments from killing their cancer cells.

"We are very optimistic about the potential of regorafenib, which is important for these patients who have run out of treatment options," said Dr. Todd Moore, the trial's principal investigator at FirstHealth. "We are pleased that we can now offer the treatment to patients who qualify for the clinical trial."

In cancer, clinical trials do not compare a new treatment with no treatment, which is the common definition of a "placebo." Instead, they compare the new treatment being tested with the usual treatment, or standard of care, for the particular type of cancer a patient has.

The current study is randomized and placebo-controlled, with twice as many patients receiving the experimental treatment as the control treatment of standard chemotherapy for metastatic colorectal cancer.

The trial began in March 2011 and will enroll a total of 240 patients at FirstHealth and UNC and at academic and community sites throughout North Carolina and the eastern United States.

The study is sponsored by UNC Lineberger and financially supported by Bayer HealthCare AG, which will provide study medication free of charge to patients enrolled on the trial.

Anyone needing more information on this clinical trial and other clinical trials available at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst, call (910) 715-2200 or visit FirstHealth's clinical trials website at www.first-health.org/clinicaltrials.