Hartford Business Journal

14 Hartford Business Journal • January 7, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com By Matt Pilon mpilon@hartfordbusiness.com A iming to boost both its research reputation and the hopes of cancer pa- tients who visit its doc- tors 50,000 times a year, Hartford HealthCare is stepping into the specialized and competitive world of early phase oncology drug trials. As part of the effort, the state's sec- ond-largest hospital system recently completed build out at its flagship Hartford Hospital campus of a $1.3 million, four-bed facility for phase 1 cancer drug research. The facility, staffed by a team of more than a dozen doctors, nurses, technicians and others, can accommo- date 200 patients annually, and is ex- pected to land its first phase 1 clinical trial by spring. It builds on a research partnership Hartford HealthCare (HHC) forged with New York City- based Memorial Sloan Kettering in 2014, which has brought more phase 2 and 3 clinical trials to Hartford. HHC is also hoping to expand its relation- ships with pharmaceutical companies. While later-phase trials include more patients and occur closer to when new cancer drugs actually make it to market, phase 1 trials often represent the first time new drugs are used in humans, which requires more patient oversight as researchers work to gauge safety, side effects and proper dosages. "These are more complex studies," said Dr. Peter Yu, physician-in-chief of the Hartford HealthCare Cancer In- stitute. "They involve a lot more nurs- ing time, a lot more time with the research coordinators; our laboratory has to collect specimens and prepare them, and it's really a totally separate workflow and separate personnel." It's an ambitious move for Hartford HealthCare to step into the phase 1 clinical trials arena, which has long been the domain of major academic and research hospitals. Becoming a "development house" for cancer drugs could give Hartford HealthCare more visibility among drugmakers — including the big clus- ter not far away in Cambridge, Mass. — that often bring their trials to major cancer centers like Memorial Sloan Kettering, Texas's MD An- derson, Minneso- ta's Mayo Clinic, and Boston's Massachusetts General. There are other potential benefits. It could help Hart- ford HealthCare keep more patients within its six-hospital system, while giving cancer patients access to new experimental drugs closer to home. It should also help with doctor and researcher recruitment. Meantime, Hartford HealthCare's largest in-state competitor — Yale New Haven Health (YNNH) — has also taken steps to bolster its own phase 1 cancer trials program. It now counts 50 active phase 1 oncology trials, up from just a handful in 2013. Pharma demand Aside from its existing relationship UConn Health tests its own biotech breakthroughs By Matt Pilon mpilon@hartfordbusiness.com U Conn Health is one of the country's smallest academic medical centers, with just 30 beds for cancer patients. Despite that, UConn has done four phase 1 cancer trials over the past 20 years, all without a dedicated drug trials unit, like the one Hartford HealthCare just built. Dr. Pramod Srivastava, medical director of UConn Health's clinical trials program, said the needs of in- dividual hospitals can vary greatly. Higher patient numbers and aspira- tions for greater trials may make a dedicated unit necessary, he said. UConn's strategy has been to do early phase trials that test its own biotech inventions and intellectual property, rather than take on an ar- ray of commercial arrangements. One such example is Srivastava's own invention — a cancer vaccine called Oncophage — which was ap- proved for use in Russia a decade ago. "That made me very happy because the trial began at UConn and then went on to 125 hospitals worldwide," Srivastava said recently. He's hoping UConn can work more closely on early stage clinical trials with its peer hospitals in the region. Srivastava is custodian of $2.5 mil- lion in Bioscience Connecticut funds, first made available in 2015. UConn Health has used $1.7 million of that funding to support phase 1 trials led by Srivastava. About $200,000 went to Hartford Hospital for its dedicated phase 1 cancer trials unit. Some funds remain and are available to other area hospitals for any phase 1 drug trial efforts they choose to undertake, ac- cording to UConn. "I want to meet with these hospitals once a week and go over what they're doing," Srivastava said. "There's no reason why we couldn't open a trial at Hartford Hospital in the future." Research Blueprint Hartford HealthCare bringing early stage clinical trials to region Dr. Pramod Srivastava leads cancer clinical trials at UConn Health. Dr. Omar Eton gives Hartford HealthCare staff a tour of a recently completed phase 1 clinical trial unit for cancer research. Dr. Patricia LoRusso, Director of Innovative Medicine, Yale Cancer Center PHOTO | HBJ FILE PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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