Research to cure brain cancer within the next decade

Discovering Hope. Every Day.

The Ivy Brain Tumor Center at the Barrow Neurological Institute is leading a new national movement to quickly identify the drugs that will save the lives of patients diagnosed with brain tumors. Utilizing a new method for developing drugs, researchers aim to find a cure for brain cancer within the next decade.

Developing a new standard of care

Barrow’s new approach to brain tumor research is the Phase 0/2 trial, which can test drugs in as little as four months, with as few as 15 patients, and at a fraction of the conventional cost. It is the largest Phase 0/2 clinical trials program in the world.

In Phase 0, an approach pioneered by Director of Neurosurgical Oncology, Nader Sanai, MD, a patient receives a small dose of an experimental drug a day before surgery. During the operation, doctors collect tumor tissue, blood and spinal fluid, and test the samples immediately following surgery to determine if the drug was effective.

If it wasn’t, the patient is referred to other therapies. But if it was, the patient moves directly into a Phase 2 component of the trial and receives a higher daily dose of the experimental drug, offering a better chance for success than in standard trials. Ultimately, this personalized medicine strategy to brain tumor treatment will allow Barrow to establish a new standard of care employing drugs, chemotherapy and radiation. The approach allows for dozens of drugs to be tested quickly, thus identifying cures faster.

Accelerating the search for a cure

Thanks to the generous support of The Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation, Barrow is intensifying and accelerating these research efforts. The Ivy Brain Tumor Center is assembling a program specializing in high-throughput Phase 0/2 clinical trials for brain tumor patients by identifying new first-in-class drug combinations that will attack the deadly cancer cells. As the Center grows, every patient, regardless of diagnosis or stage of the brain tumor, will have the option to enroll in a Phase 0/2 clinical trial. The expansion in lab space and the recruitment of top brain tumor scientists and clinical staff will fast-track medical discovery and offer hope and support to those battling brain tumors.