A need to simplify informed consent documents in cancer clinical trials. A position paper of the ARCAD Group.

Background: In respect of the principle of autonomy and the right of self-determination, obtaining an informed consent of potential participants before their inclusion in a study is a fundamental ethical obligation. The variations in national laws, regulations, and cultures contribute to complex informed consent documents for patients participating in clinical trials. Currently, only few ethics committees seem willing to address the complexity and the length of these documents and to request investigators and sponsors to revise them in a way to make them understandable for potential participants.

Impact of on-site initiation visits on patient recruitment and data quality in a randomized trial of adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer.

Purpose: To provide empirical evidence on the impact of on-site initiation visits on the following outcomes: patient recruitment, quantity and quality of data submitted to the trial coordinating office, and patients' follow-up time.

Patients And Methods: This methodological study was performed as part of a randomized trial comparing two combination chemotherapies for adjuvant treatment of breast cancer. Centers participating to the trial were randomized to either receive systematic on-site visits (Visited group), or not (Non-visited group).

Phase II trial of anaxirone (TGU) in advanced colorectal cancer: an EORTC Early Clinical Trials Group (ECTG) study.

Anaxirone, a rationally synthesised triepoxide derivative, was given to 46 patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Good risk patients received 800 mg/m2 as a rapid intravenous injection every 4 weeks, whereas poor risk patients received 650 mg/m2. Of 46 patients, 45 were evaluable for toxicity and 42 for efficacy analysis.

Recombinant granulocyte colony stimulating factor reduces the infectious complications of cytotoxic chemotherapy.

The aim of this study was to determine the usefulness of recombinant human granulocyte colony stimulating factor (r-metHuG-CSF) following conventional chemotherapy for small cell lung cancer. 130 previously untreated patients were randomised to receive either r-metHuG-CSF (230 micrograms/m2) or placebo on days 4-17 following CDE (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin and etoposide) chemotherapy. Over all cycles, 53% of 64 patients on placebo and only 26% of 65 patients on r-metHuG-CSF had at least one experience of neutropenia with fever defined as a neutrophil count less than 1.

Responses and toxic deaths in phase I clinical trials.

This review analysis consists of the antitumor activity and toxic deaths reported in single agent Phase I clinical trials using cytotoxic compounds published from 1972 to 1987. A total of 6639 patients with a variety of solid tumors and hematological malignancies were accrued in 211 trials studying 87 compounds. The median number of patients per trial was 28 (range: 7-111) and the median of the median ages reported in the individual trial was 56 (range of individual age: 2 to 93 years).

Phase I-II trial of doxifluridine (5'DFUR) administered as long-term continuous infusion using a portable infusion pump for advanced colorectal cancer.

Doxifluridine, a new fluoropyrimidine analog, was administered to 21 patients with advanced colorectal carcinoma. The starting dose was 1.0 g/m2 given over 24 h for 90 consecutive days as a continuous infusion.

Phase II trial of menogaril in advanced colorectal cancer.

Menogaril, a new semisynthetic anthracycline antibiotic, was administered to 35 patients with advanced colorectal cancer. The drug was infused over 2 hr at a dose of 160 mg/sqm or 200 mg/sqm repeated every 4 weeks. Twenty-seven patients were evaluable for response and no objective responses were achieved.

Phase I study of triglycidylurazol given on a 5-day i.v. schedule.

Triglycidylurazol is a teroxirone derivative proposed for clinical trials on the basis of a broad spectrum of activity against murine tumors and a reduced potential for toxic manifestations at the injection site as compared to the parent compound. This phase I trial was designed to define the maximum tolerated dose of triglycidylurazol given by iv bolus on a 5-day schedule. Twenty-eight adult patients with a variety of solid tumors were entered.

Randomized phase II trial of carminomycin versus 4'-epidoxorubicin in advanced breast cancer.

Sixty-three evaluable patients with advanced breast cancer were randomly allocated to receive three-week intravenous courses of carminomycin (18 mg/m2) or 4'-epidoxorubicin (90 mg/m2). The former yielded one (3%) partial response for nine weeks among 29 patients whereas, in the other arm, nine (27%) of 34 patients achieved partial response for a median of 28 weeks (range, nine to 36 weeks; p less than 0.02).

Phase II study of carminomycin in a human tumor cloning assay.

The anticancer activity of carminomycin was investigated in a human tumor cloning assay. No efficacy could be identified in the WiDr and the MCF7 cell lines which were highly responsive to doxorubicin. In addition, drug testing experiments were carried out in samples of various malignancies freshly obtained from 86 patients of whom 54 had not received prior anthracyclines.

Preparation of delta 3-7 alpha-phenylacetamidodesacetoxycephalosporanic acid.

delta 3-7 alpha-Phenylacetamidodesacetoxycephalosporanic acid was prepared by ring expansion of 6-epi-benzylpenicillin-S-sulfoxide, using N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)acetamide (BSA) as silylating and dehydrating agent and alpha-picoline/alpha-picoline hydrobromide as catalyst. In some experiments 7 alpha-phenylacetamido-3 beta-bromo-3 alpha-methylcepham-4 alpha-carboxylic acid was obtained as a side product. 7-Epimers in the desacetoxycephalosporanic series were also prepared by base-catalyzed epimerization of the benzyl 7 beta-(p-nitrobenzylideneimino)desacetoxycephalosporanate and of the S-sulfoxide of natural methyl 6-phenylacetamidodesacetoxycephalosporanate.