BringingtheLatestDevelopmentsinClinical ResearchtoOurCommunity

Access to the most promising new therapies through clinical trials is invaluable to patients with pancreatic cancer, especially those who may have exhausted traditional treatment options. Philanthropy is a key driver of the Hoag Family Cancer Institute’s clinical research capabilities and offerings, supporting the robust infrastructure needed to attract and run these sophisticated trials. Hoag recently recruited Dr. Carlos Becerra, the Margaret Givan Larkin Endowed Chair in Developmental Cancer Therapeutics and a nationally known expert in early phase clinical research and cellular therapy, to lead Hoag’s top-tier research team in securing the most advanced trials testing the latest discoveries coming out of industry and translational science. This means patients with advanced pancreatic cancer can stay close to home and family while accessing the latest cutting-edge treatments.

The Hoag Family Cancer Institute has also become a preferred institution for biotech and pharmaceutical companies to bring their newest therapeutic developments into the clinic setting. In some cases, Hoag is the only or one of only a few centers to offer these early phase trials. Thanks to funding from Hoag Innovators, a group of entrepreneurial donors committed to catalyzing innovation at Hoag through collective giving, Hoag is currently one of two centers in the world with a pioneering cell therapy trial for pancreatic cancer. The phase II trial uses natural killer (NK) cells, which are manipulated to recognize and target cancer cells. When injected into the patient, the NK cells activate the immune system to create antibodies that fight cancer in combination with chemotherapy. While the trial will continue through 2024, results to date show the median overall survival for those in the trial is more than double the typical survival for these advanced cases of pancreatic cancer. With your support, Hoag continues to pursue clinical trials in the most promising areas of research for pancreatic cancer.

53 clinical trials for pancreatic cancer opened at Hoag in the last five years clinical trials

Novel drugs that attack tumor cells

Biomarker discovery and early detection

Molecular imaging and therapy

Immunotherapy

Cell therapy (NK cell, CAR T-cell, and T-cell receptor engineering therapies)

Targeted therapy

OntheForefrontofRadiationTherapy withViewRayMRIdian®

A generous gift from Dean and Gerda Koontz enabled Hoag to be the second health care institution in California and 16th in the nation to acquire the ViewRay MRIdian® linear accelerator, which is the most advanced radiation therapy available and a game changer for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Unlike conventional linear accelerators, the ViewRay MRIdian® combines MRI imaging with a linear accelerator, which equips clinicians with real-time, high-resolution images of the patient’s tumor and surrounding areas during radiation therapy. This is especially important for treating tumors in the abdomen, like pancreatic cancer, where the position of the tumor can shift from movement in the GI tract and from the patient’s breathing. The continuous MRI imaging allows radiation oncologists to account for movement in real time to deliver radiation to the target much more precisely while minimizing damage to healthy surrounding areas, which decreases side effects.

Personalizing Treatment with Precision Medicine

Through Hoag’s Precision Medicine Program, patients have access to the most comprehensive molecular profiling DNA and RNA analysis of all 22,000 genes as well as protein analysis to understand the specific alterations driving their cancer, allowing physicians to make treatment decisions personalized to each patient. More than 300 Hoag patients with advanced pancreatic cancer have received comprehensive molecular profiling. As new drugs that target specific gene alterations become FDA approved or as new clinical trials open, Hoag’s team identifies which patients may be eligible to pursue an alternative treatment option through analysis of the program’s comprehensive precision medicine patient database.