ASH 2014: Professor Hillmen Discusses the Trials Acceleration Program for CLL (Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia)

In this week's new postings on the CLL Society website on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (May 11th,13th, and 15th), Professor Peter Hillmen from Leeds, England outlines the sorry state of traditional trial design and the problems it creates, or more accurately the problems that it doesn't solve, for us CLL patients. Professor Hillmen heads up CLL research in the United Kingdom.
There are so many new CLL drugs and so many more possible combinations that need to be explored. And that can take a long, long time. Sadly, too long for some of us.
But Dr. Hillmen offers a practical, agile solution that is now happening in the United Kingdom.
During the three-part interview, Professor Hillmen outlines a consolidated strategy called TAP (Trials Acceleration Programme) to get us the answers we need more quickly. Trial design, surrogate markers and how well they translate with novel therapies, and statistics are explained during the course of our interview done in December 2014 at the ASH (American Society of Hematology) Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
I understand if your eyes and to glaze over when we start to discuss trial design and statistics, but just as it is important that we know about the drugs we are getting, it is equally important that we know about trials we are getting. Proper trial design and proper rendering of the results can change and save lives.
But I will let Professor Hillmen explain it here in a direct link. His excitement and pride are palpable. Please check the CL Society website again on Wednesday and Friday for the 2nd and third parts of our interview.If you want a personal response, or just want to stay in touch, please email me at bkoffmanMD@gmail.com. I have no other way of contacting. Thanks. Stay strong. After all, we are all in this together.