Dr. Gerson on Clinical Trial Accrual in MCL

James N. Gerson, MD, assistant professor of clinical medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, discusses clinical trial accrual in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

Many patients with MCL will stay in the community, and never get an opinion from an academic center, says Gerson; this is unfortunate because it makes it difficult to offer them the option of participating in up-front clinical trials for their induction therapy.

Certainly, not every patient will want to stay at the University of Pennsylvania, and those at academic institutions do not want to take patients away from community doctors, but sometimes it is good to hear another opinion—especially for those with a rare disease like MCL where there is no standard of care.

Regardless, the institution has no problem accruing to their trials and their staff is constantly managing patients and their toxicities, says Gerson. It is a very exciting time in general to be in academia and to be working with staff on these trials and seeing patients have good outcomes, concludes Gerson.