Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Cancer victims’ mecca

When Jim Stone survived a bout with testicular cancer in 1980, he had every reason to believe he had dodged a bullet.

Recently, however, the Sun Valley, Idaho, man got the grim, devastating news. Not only did Stone have prostate cancer, but it had spread into his entire spinal column. He also had metastatic bone cancer, doctors said, and the outlook was dismal.

Stone, 71, checked out several U.S. treatment centers, including the renowned cancer facility in Texas where he had been successfully treated for testicular cancer some 25 years earlier. He also went to Europe to explore options available there.

After some success with treatments in California, one of his doctors suggested that he take a look at the Nevada Cancer Institute in Summerlin.

Stone admits he was reluctant. He even recalled an old joke: "Where do you go if you need treatment for a serious illness in Las Vegas?"

The punch line, of course, is McCarran International Airport.

But instead of taking off from McCarran, Stone landed there - on his way to Summerlin. He is not alone.

In less than a year of operation, the Nevada Cancer Institute has gained a national reputation for its clinical-trial participation, with a rate that is more than three times the national average.

Only about 3 percent of cancer patients in the country take part in trials, but more than one in 10 NVCI patients participate.

Dr. Nicholas Vogelzang, the institute's director, says offering hope is a primary goal at NVCI.

"We try to give them confidence that something is being done that will help them," he says. "We want them to know that their interests are at the forefront."

As a result, a place people have traditionally fled when needing serious medical treatment is becoming the destination of choice for some cancer patients.

Dr. Robert Comis, president of the Philadelphia-based Coalition of National Cancer Cooperative Groups, says NVCI's success has not gone unnoticed.

"In the cancer community we have been very encouraged to see what's happening in Nevada," he says. "They are obviously intent on building a world-class facility, and I'd say they are well on their way."

Since its opening last September, NVCI has treated 1,500 patients, more than 170 of whom have been involved in clinical trials.

Comis says a high participation rate is critical in determining the value of a new treatment: "There are about 400 cancer drugs in the pipeline right now, and unless we increase the participation rate, there will be a significant delay in finding out if these treatments are effective."

The companies that develop these drugs also want them to come to market as soon as possible; so they have begun to target the institute for trials. NVCI has initiated more than 60 trials since it opened, including one that is not being conducted anywhere else in the world. About 30 percent of its trials are Phase I - treatments being conducted on humans for the first time.

Comis says Vogelzang's guidance is an integral part of the institute's early success.

"Dr. Vogelzang has a very strong and long track record in clinical trials and a strong record in leadership in the cancer clinical research community. We hope to see great things from Nevada."

Vogelzang came to NVCI from the University of Chicago Cancer Research Center, where he served as director. He says the commitment from community leaders convinced him to make the move.

"I didn't want to come someplace that didn't want to develop new drugs and do it in the context of having trials to offer," Vogelzang says. "The people here said we need this, and we want to support your work."

Vogelzang also credits the addition of other well-respected researchers and a strong working relationship with doctors in the valley for the high rate of participation. Many NVCI patients were referred specifically for clinical trials.

He is pleased that the institute's reputation is growing and that it has started to attract patients from other states. He emphasizes, however, that the focus is to provide Nevadans - who make up about 90 percent of the institute's patients - with a cancer center that can offer all phases of treatment and clinical trials.

Among those Nevadans is Lloyd Boothby, a retired Air Force colonel who has lived in Las Vegas for 52 years and has participated in two separate clinical trials.

Boothby had survived two previous bouts with cancer before he was diagnosed with cancer of the urinary ducts last year.

"When they asked me if I wanted to do another trial, I thought, 'Why not? It worked before,' " he says.

In a recovery that astonished even his doctors, Boothby went from a wheelchair to a walker to the golf course in just a few months.

Boothby's rapid resurgence is almost as rare as his eagerness to participate in trials.

Vogelzang says patients have a lot of misconceptions about trials, including the belief that they could be given a placebo.

Use of placebos are very rare, he says, and are only given when there is no established standard of care. Even then, use of a placebo is followed by treatment with the experimental medication.

Patients are also reluctant to enter a clinical trial if a medication with proven success is available - even if the success rate is low.

Dr. Sunil Sharma of NVCIs Phase I unit points out, however, that every established treatment was in a trial at some time and new drugs usually take seven to 10 years to come to market. By participating in a trial, especially a Phase I trial, patients are given a chance to try a medication that may not be widely available until after it is too late to help them.

While trials have always been an important part of cancer research, recent technological advances have resulted in a new class of "smart drugs" that researchers are eager to try.

Sharma says this new era of drugs represents a major change in cancer care that has researchers looking at cures rather than just treatments.

Since they now understand the makeup of cancer cells, researchers can offer drugs that attack those cells without damaging healthy cells, greatly increasing the chance for patient survival.

Vogelzang says that while a 10 percent participation rate is good, it is not time for NVCI to rest on its laurels: "We can do better and we will do better."

He points out that facilities such as the University of Chicago center, which boasts a participation rate of more than 20 percent, have been around for more than 100 years.

"We are just getting started here," he says. "Give me a decade or two."

Stone, who flies sometimes twice a week from Idaho for his treatment here, didn't have the luxury of time.

When he was diagnosed, his doctors all had the same message: Get your affairs in order and spend your last few months doing the things you always wanted to do in life.

"I've spent my whole life doing what I want to do," Stone says. "What I want to do now is live."

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