One of the greatest unanswered medical mysteries of our time is cancer. The facts don’t support the idea that we are headed in the right way, despite significant advancements in prevention and breakthroughs in personalized care. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the number of new cases of cancer among UN nations might rise by as much as 47% from 2020 to 2040. We must consider what might be done to lessen the needless deaths brought on by this complicated group of diseases as the prevalence of cancer rises internationally.
The solution was never going to be straightforward for a disease that has more than 200 different kinds and subtypes. However, the annual infusion of billions of euros into cancer research is opening up new avenues for investigation into specific cancer kinds and stages. According to the National Institute of Health, the number of oncological trials starting each year has increased by 60% over the last 10 years, from 2,500 in 2007 to over 4,000 in 2017. The chance of success for cancer medicines examined in clinical trials, however, is only around 5%, therefore the actual influence of this study on the development of therapeutic alternatives for patients is low.
An Essential Change from Conventional R&D
This necessitates an adjustment in cancer research. The conventional research and development (R&D) approach has serious problems. For instance, while developing a hypothesis, researchers painstakingly pore through tens of thousands of publications to find novel chemical combinations or compounds that show promise. Due to the large number of clinical studies that are never published, data availability is also low. Researchers frequently never learn from unsuccessful experiments, which leads to inefficiency since they keep making the same mistakes.
Utilizing AI is one of the novel research methodologies. One business, Innoplexus, searches through gigabytes of data from both published and unpublished research sources, filters it for reputable sources pertaining to the life sciences, and organizes it for researchers using AI. This speeds up the process of developing hypotheses for clinical trials.
AI is not always sufficient, though. There are research gaps that only real-world data (RWD) can cover, despite the fact that it has several advantages over traditional R&D. RWD, which comes directly from patients, is most frequently utilized to evaluate the post-market efficacy and safety of treatments. But by using RWD at various phases of the clinical trial procedure, we can dramatically speed up and enhance the chance of therapeutic success right now.
Revolutionizing Patient Involvement
The CURIA app intends to open up new avenues for patient involvement in research. Its primary goal is to provide patients the knowledge they need to manage their illness and make critical choices on their course of treatment. Additionally, patients have access to in-app services like getting a second opinion, being paired with another user who has conditions similar to theirs so they can exchange experiences, and other similar features.
The key to how this patient environment can revolutionize cancer research is now at hand. Patients can opt to engage in studies, surveys, or questionnaires that researchers send to the app. Information may be gathered through the use of blood tests, pathology reports, doctor’s letters, or by asking more qualitative questions, such as those pertaining to quality of life. Patients always maintain control since the data they contribute is safely leased out to researchers using blockchain. In addition, patients get OncoCoin tokens in exchange for their contributions, which appreciate in value as the data’s potential is realized.
These kinds of initiatives enable patients to control their own data and take an active role in their cancer treatment. Statistics demonstrate that patients who have a sense of empowerment throughout their cancer journey report receiving better treatment and even have better clinical results. The status quo of cancer has a bright future with more informed patients who take charge of their cancer journeys and participate in clinical research.
Blockchain and AI are unlikely to completely disrupt the healthcare industry unless they collaborate with patients. We will get closer to conquering this devastating group of illnesses the more we can do to make technology more available to patients, giving them hope to alter the path of their cancer journey while supporting cancer research.
