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New MetroWest Medical affiliation should mean more clinical trials
MetroWest Medical Center has secured long-sought membership in a Boston research institute studying new treatments, which will give patients expanded access to potentially life-saving clinical trials for drugs and medical devices.
The Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute is run by Tufts University and Tufts Medical Center, which already collaborates with MetroWest Medical to provide pediatric and adult specialists in Framingham and Natick and to take severe cases in Boston.
But MetroWest Medical still had to show that it had the capacity and skills to handle the trial arrangement, hospital Research Director Gary Johnson said, with most trials in the state usually happening at Boston academic medical centers.
"We think we have something to offer them," he said of the institute, which counts Newton-Wellesley Hospital among its members. "I think our group is as good as any group downtown."
MetroWest Medical's research program began in 2007, with 50 trials to date and 15 under way with 65 patients.
While the program doesn't run Phase 1 clinical trials - the first introduction of new treatments to humans - staff have historically worked in cardiology, oncology, infectious diseases, pediatrics, obstetrics, gynecology and medical devices.
Tapping institute resources and expertise, Johnson and his colleagues want to expand trials in those areas, as well as move into surgical devices and psychiatry at the medical center's Leonard Morse campus.
Patients could also be referred to more trials through the institute, or join with researchers at other member sites.
"This is a community benefit in a very big way," with the opportunity to not only share the latest developments with patients but also to identify community problems and design specific research in response, Johnson said. Available trials will be posted on a website.
Historically, urban academic centers handle most research nationwide, despite most patients getting their care at community hospitals such as MetroWest Medical, Johnson said.
As a result, many people didn't have access to trials. Researchers also had to work with small sample pools, meaning they couldn't always get clear results. They didn't have a strong range of subjects, and people involved in trials were often enrolled in multiple studies - each of which may have influenced disease treatment.
The National Institutes of Health is looking to bring community hospitals on board as an untapped resource, with the chance to lower research costs by providing a larger pool of patients and potentially speeding up trials.
Given his program's experience with community hospital-based research, Johnson said he and his colleagues hope to work with the National Institutes of Health to share their approach with other sites across the country.
He also sees his program as a local conduit among Boston's academic medical centers, MetroWest residents and community physicians practicing outside the hospital. He said the new affiliation will improve care and help attract top doctors.
"This is something we have hoped for for a long time," Johnson said.