The Clinical Chemoprevention Program at Fox Chase develops, implements and evaluates natural or synthetic drug interventions to prevent cancers in high-risk populations. Clinical research trials in cancer prevention are made possible through collaboration of investigators in clinical medicine, basic science, pharmacokinetics, pharmacy, molecular and genetic epidemiology, behavioral research, family risk programs and biostatistics. This multidisciplinary approach facilitates the evaluation of promising chemopreventive agents in individuals with significant risk for various malignancies. An important criterion for a clinical chemoprevention study is evidence of an non-toxic effective chemopreventive agent.
Data supporting the agent's ability to prevent cancer at the target site is crucial.
These biomarkers may be the earliest subtle changes that may ultimately prove to be highly correlated with carcinogenesis reversal or progression. Fox Chase has access to numerous cohorts for clinical chemoprevention studies. Patients with treated, non-metastatic primary cancers who are at risk for second malignancies and suitable for chemoprevention studies include those with a cancer diagnosis of head and neck, lung, colon, breast, skin, and bladder. Patients with these diagnoses are accessible through our medical, surgical and radiation oncology clinics. Surgical candidates may be treated with chemopreventive agents in the period between diagnostic biopsy and surgery to evaluate the effects of the agents on biomarkers.