Immunotherapy drugs fight cancer by helping the immune system recognise and attack cancer cells. These drugs have revolutionised cancer treatment over the last decade, improving survival for many people with different types of cancer.  However, researchers are still unsure of the best way to give immunotherapy, which can come with unpredictable side effects.  

In this episode, Clinical Fellow Sophie Merrick discusses how the REFINE trial hopes to address this problem, by testing if giving immunotherapy less frequently can still treat the cancer effectively, whilst improving the quality of life for patients, reducing side effects and costs. 

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Further information is available on the REFINE study page at www.mrcctu.ucl.ac.uk

For questions or feedback on the series, message us at mrcctu.engage@ucl.ac.uk 

For more information and to access the transcript: https://bit.ly/3DgIDE2

As a listener, your opinion is very valuable to us. Please help us to improve the podcast in future by filling in this short survey: https://forms.office.com/e/PjfjQ5Mn6g

Motivational Day

The REFINE trial: How can we improve the way we give cancer immunotherapy?

UKCTOCS (UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening) is one of the largest screening trials in ovarian cancer. More than 200,000 women from England, Wales and Northern Ireland took part in it, and it ran for almost two decades. Designing and running such a large and lengthy trial came with its own challenges. In this episode, Professor Usha Menon discusses the key challenges that UKCTOCS faced in its design, conduct an analysis, and how the team addressed them.

Further information is available on the UKCTOCS website at https://ukctocs.mrcctu.ucl.ac.uk/
Listen to the episode about the UKCTOCS trial results at https://bit.ly/48pK94J
For questions or feedback on the series, message us at mrcctu.engage@ucl.ac.uk
For more information and to access the transcript: https://bit.ly/45XRyWT
As a listener, your opinion is very valuable to us. Please help us to improve the podcast in the future by filling in this short survey: forms.office.com/e/PjfjQ5Mn6g

Lessons from UKCTOCS, a large-scale trial in ovarian cancer screening

The Trial Talk podcast explores how our work at the MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL is improving health in the UK and worldwide. In this series, we hear from world-leading experts about the studies we carry out. We delve into trials on cancer, infections and neurodegenerative diseases, explore how public and patient involvement shapes our work, and discover new ways to run smarter studies.

New tracks tagged #MadeAtUCL,