Access to potentially life saving clinical trials yield remarkable results

ABC NEWS (Australia)

People living with disabilities often face barriers when it comes to accessing potentially lifesaving clinical trials. Leane Duggan is blind and was recently diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer a disease with an extremely poor prognosis. Her medical team went above and beyond to get her on an early phase clinical trial, and she's had remarkable results.

Transcript

00:00Social worker Leanne Duggan navigates life with her guide dog Esther, but everything

00:07changed when she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year.

00:11It was hard, it was shattering.

00:14Leanne had extensive surgery and chemotherapy, only to be told the cancer had spread and

00:19her treatment wasn't working.

00:21I had previously been told that if it went terminal that there was nothing really that

00:28could be done.

00:29Leanne's tumour has a genetic mutation which made her a candidate for a new targeted drug

00:34therapy.

00:35There are just 33 patients worldwide on the trial, and doctors at the Kinghorn Cancer

00:40Centre at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital say they lobbied hard to get Leanne accepted.

00:45Some of the drug companies are very, very afraid to test such drugs on patients with

00:50disabilities for fear that the consequences and the side effects may be greater than otherwise

00:54they would be.

00:56Leanne Duggan uses braille to identify her medications and keep a daily diary of her

01:01symptoms and side effects.

01:03We needed to have a really stringent process by which we ensured that she was taking the

01:08right number of tablets at the right time and our pharmacy could account for this.

01:14Leanne also has an extreme needle phobia, so the trials team installed a central line

01:20to make the frequent blood tests more comfortable.

01:22Leanne has had a remarkable tenfold drop in her cancer markers since starting the trial.

01:27Her scan also shows that the activity that we saw in the cancer is no longer active right

01:34now, so for now things are looking very promising.

01:38But if my trials team hadn't had the willingness to so strongly advocate for me, I may not

01:47have got on and it would have cost me my life.

01:50Removing barriers to treat a disease that doesn't discriminate.

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