Oncology Clinical Trials and Research Clinic

The Oncology Clinical Trials and Research Clinic participate in a considerable number of clinical trials involving, including, among others, patients with metastatic prostate cancer, metastatic colorectal cancer, metastatic kidney cancer, bladder/urothelial cancer, small cell and non-small cell lung cancer and other oncological diseases.

The clinical trials team consists of:

• Principal Investigator
  Evangelos Bournakis, Medical Oncologist
  Director, Oncology Clinical Trials and Research Clinic
• Sub-investigators
  Nikolaos Soupos, Medical Oncologist
  Nikolaos Skandalakis, Cardiologist
• Study Coordinator
  Athanasios Bournakis, MSc, Chemical Engineer

A clinical trial is a process of investigating and confirming both the effectiveness and the safety of a drug. The study drug is compared either with a placebo (a pharmacologically inactive substance) when no established treatment exists, or with already existing standard therapies, in order to determine whether it is more effective while remaining safe, so that it may ultimately be approved for use in routine clinical practice.

When an established therapy already exists that provides benefit in endpoints such as survival, the study compares the investigational drug in combination with the standard therapy versus the standard therapy alone, in order to determine whether the addition of the new drug to standard therapy leads to greater benefit in survival or disease response compared to standard therapy alone.

Participation in clinical trials is associated with multiple advantages, ensuring a high level of therapeutic care and monitoring within an internationally predefined strict framework defined by each study’s clinical protocol.

Through participation in clinical trials, the following are achieved:

1. Access to modern therapies that combine internationally approved treatment with the addition of an investigational therapy, at no cost to the patient or their insurance provider. The patient has access to hospital services covered by the study (blood tests, imaging, biopsies, administration of treatment in short-stay hospitalization, inpatient care, and medical and oncological follow-up by study physicians) without any financial burden. In many cases, depending on the clinical trial, the patient may also undergo advanced imaging, laboratory, or genetic testing of particularly high cost free of charge, which may not always be covered by insurance funds. Additionally, in many international clinical trials, transportation expenses to and from the hospital and the patient’s place of residence are covered, facilitating access for patients from different regions of Greece to high-level therapeutic options during a financially challenging period.
2. The opportunity to receive modern and promising therapies before they become widely available internationally, provided they demonstrate therapeutic value through clinical trials, with the aim of cure or improvement in quality of life and overall survival. This is particularly important for patients with non-curable, usually metastatic, malignancies.
3. The opportunity to receive therapies when standard treatment options are limited or exhausted.
4. The opportunity for uninsured individuals to receive a combination of optimal approved therapy with investigational treatment in a high-level hospital setting, without any financial burden.

Participation in a clinical trial is proposed only if it is truly the best possible option for the management of the disease, following full and detailed information of the individual concerned. Participation is voluntary and not binding, even if initial written consent has been provided. Discontinuation of participation is at the discretion of the participant and/or their attending physician.

In international clinical trials, the provision of drugs and protocol-related diagnostic tests is free of charge, at no cost to the insurance provider.

Early access programs refer to new therapies/drugs that have demonstrated benefit in the treatment of the malignancy they target, have been approved by the FDA in the United States and/or by the EMA in Europe, but are not yet available in Greece, usually because they have not yet been priced.

Through these programs, access to such drugs is possible long before they are priced and prescribed, offering their benefit to patients in need much earlier, without financial burden (in some programs also without burden to the public healthcare system, as the drug is provided free of charge by the pharmaceutical company that produces it-this applies to a limited number of patients).

Early access programs are not clinical trials.

There are active research programs for prostate cancer and lung cancer.

You may search on the website of Metropolitan General and the Oncology Clinical Trials and Research Clinic for clinical trials, early access programs, and research programs that are currently active or expected to be activated, and then contact the Clinic’s oncologists to schedule an appointment and be informed about the possibility of your inclusion in one of them, depending on the nature of your condition. *

If you are already being followed by a physician, they may also inform you about the value of clinical trials and discuss your participation or refer you to a member of our team at the Oncology Clinical Trials and Research Clinic.

*You may also contact us with any questions or inquiries regarding clinical trials/early access programs/research programs conducted at the Clinic via email at: OncoCTR.Clinic@yahoo.com