Mary Lanning Healthcare begins clinical trials for cancer treatment

HASTINGS, Neb. (KSNB) - Clinical trials are now taking place at Mary Lanning Healthcare’s Morrison Cancer Center. The goal is to develop better medicine for cancer patients. They will start with patients at Mary Lanning and gauge the effects; some patients will be given a placebo. All medicine given during trial is already approved by the FDA. Clinical trial coordinator Joan Meese said she has one goal for these trials.

“My biggest goal in this is to be able to bring any of that new therapy to our patients here, to this community to the surrounding communities, said Meese. “So they don’t have to go to Lincoln, Omaha, Denver, Kansas City to get these big trails, these new medications, we can bring them here to them.”

Meese said they’re mainly looking for medicine to help the most common cancers in the area which are breast and lung cancer. She said for patients it’s a chance to experience what could be.

“They would get a chance to have access to a medication that maybe they wouldn’t have had access to before, and maybe it’ll be just that one thing that’s going to be able to put them in remission or it cured it for them, and then they can say yeah I’m cancer free, I’m a survivor.”

Meese said anyone can volunteer for clinical trials. Participants must sign a waiver, as the effects of the medication may differ for each individual.

“Every clinical trial we do, each one going to have their own informed consent form. Which we would go through with the patient page by page, make sure that they understand everything, all the risk, all the benefits of these new treatments, these new meds.”

Messe said a patient can withdraw participation at anytime during clinical trails and it won’t affect their treatment or care.

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