Proposed Topic (Most preferred): :
Research and Innovations (new projects / technology / innovations / service models)
Proposed Topic (Second preferred): :
Enhancing Partnership with Patients and Community (Projects initiated to engage patients / carers / community to improve efficiency / quality of care)
Authors (including presenting author) :
Cheung KM (1), J Chen (2), S Chan (2), V Kwok (3)
Affiliation :
1. Department of Clinical Oncology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital
2. Roche
3. Our Hong Kong Foundation
Introduction :
Recent policy positions Hong Kong to be Asia’s leading clinical trial hub. An oft-cited dilemma in other hubs is clinical trial competition, where trials target the same population. These competing trials provide patients with more options, but also clash in research resources and patient recruitment. Oncology observes the highest number of trials. This might be particularly stretching for Hong Kong with a small population. To pursue becoming a clinical trial hub, stakeholders must be aware of such a challenge and turn it into an opportunity.
Objectives :
To demonstrate the extent of competing oncology clinical trials in Hospital Authority (HA) in the last five years.
Methodology :
Trialtrove was used as our data source as it consolidates information from multiple trial registries and related publications. We searched oncology trials of all phases where the trial location is Hong Kong. Because 90% of clinical trials in Hong Kong are in the HA, this analysis is representative of the situation of HA. Since local recruitment dates are not available, we used global recruitment dates between 2019 and 2023 as a proxy. Trials were considered competing if they targeted the same cancer type and had recruitment periods overlapped. Even if two trials do not target precisely the same biomarkers or previous treatment lines, they may still compete for oncologist attention and research support. Also, many trials exclude patients who participated or are participating in other trials. In this analysis, we report the top three cancer types with the largest number of trials as examples.
Result & Outcome :
There have been 328 oncology trials recruiting patients in the last five years. The top three cancer types are: non-small cell lung cancer (84), liver cancer (47) and breast cancer (45). For non-small cell lung cancer, on average 36.7 trials were recruiting patients concurrently every day. The highest number of competing trials is 46, which occurred in November 2021. For liver cancer, the average is 17.8, and the highest is 26 (December 2020). For breast cancer, the average is 18.4, and the highest is 23 (October 2022).
There is significant trial competition among major cancer types in Hong Kong. It is suggested to develop measures to facilitate site feasibility testing, equip more sites and staff for clinical trials, provide inter-hospital coordination and explore cross-border patient recruitment.
