Clinical Trial Spotlight

Doctors often use a list of symptoms, known as the Rome III criteria, which was developed by an expert panel to distinguish IBS from other intestinal conditions. Please note that you do not have to have all of the symptoms listed below to have a diagnosis of IBS.
Here is the list of criteria:
- Your symptoms began at least 6 months ago.
- You have had abdominal pain or discomfort at least 3 days each month in the last 3 months and at least two of the following statements are true:
• The pain is relieved by having a bowel movement.
• The pain is linked to a change in how often you have a bowel movement.
• The pain is linked to a change in the appearance or consistency of your stool.
When you have IBS, your pattern of bowel movements may be different over time. Two or more of the following may happen:
• Bowel movements may occur either more often resulting in diarrhea, or less often resulting in constipation, than usual, such as having more than 3 bowel movements a day or less than 3 a week.
• Bowel movements may differ in size or consistency (may be hard and small, pencil-thin, or loose and watery).
• The way stools pass changes. You may strain, feel an urgent need to have a bowel movement, or feel that you haven’t completely passed a stool.
• You may have bloating or a feeling of gas in the intestines.

IBS is a functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorder, meaning it is a problem caused by changes in how the GI tract works. It is a common condition in women, estimated to affect 30 million women in the U.S. IBS is not a disease; it is a group of symptoms that occur together, but the GI tract does not become damaged. Some people with IBS have mostly diarrhea (IBS-D), others have mostly constipation (IBS-C), and some have a mix of the two (IBS-M). In patients with IBS-D, common symptoms include diarrhea, frequent bowel movements, and a strong urgency before bowel movements, along with abdominal pain or discomfort.

Do You Suffer from Restless Legs – does the discomfort you feel in your legs increase at night?

Many people do not even know they have Restless Legs Syndrome, also known as RLS, which is a disruptive neurologic disorder that seriously affects 2-3% of the adult population. RLS results in an irresistible urge to move the legs to relieve unusual or unpleasant sensations in the legs that may be described as creeping, tugging, or pulling. Because RLS most often occurs in the evening, it can severely disrupt sleep and reduce quality of life.

RLS, is a medical condition that can be treated. Several approved treatments exist for RLS, but despite their proven efficacy, not all RLS patients can take the currently approved drugs. Therefore, there is a need to develop new treatments for RLS.

This study is testing the safety and efficacy of an investigational drug in individuals suffering from moderate to severe RLS.

If you suffer from RLS, consider participating in this research trial. Study-related office visits, laboratory work, and medication are at no cost and you may be compensated for your time and travel.

Contact us today: 1-877-997-8839 or Visit ClinicalTrialSpotlight.com

MabVax Therapeutics is actively recruiting patients for a Phase 2 sarcoma vaccine trial who have recently been treated for metastatic sarcoma and whose status is “No Evidence of Disease” or NED.

The patients in the study will be randomized to receive either a vaccine that is combined with an immune system stimulant or the immune system stimulant alone. The immune system stimulant is called OPT-821 and is an immunological booster. If the trivalent vaccine can stimulate the patient’s immune system to develop antibodies which recognize and target the GM2, GD2 and GM3 sugars that are over expressed on the surface of most sarcomas, then the patient’s antibodies could attack and kill any remaining sarcoma cells potentially preventing the recurrence of sarcoma.

For more information about the trial and to take a short questionnaire to see if you qualify click here.

You may be eligible to participate in this clinicle trial for individuals recentrly diagnosed with metastatic (Stage IV) sarcoma or previously diagnosed and undergone surgery to remove all known sarcoma tumors.

YOU MAY HAVE THE OPTION TO PARTICIPATED IN A CLINICAL TRIAL

This clinical trial is testing a novel vaccine desinged to instruct the immune system to destroy any sarcoma cells that remain in the body after surgery.

This vaccine is given as an outpatient treatment with the goal of preventing or delaying sarcoma recurrence.

Participants may receive, and no cost, study-related:

• Medical care
• Study vaccine
• Laboratory work and evaluations

Participants must be within 8 weeks of their surgery and meet other eligibility requirements, agree to undergo the study required procedures and after a thorough discussion of the study, give written consent to participate in the study.

See if you qualify here

Medications for Parkinson’s disease work very well. But symptoms can creep back when they wear off.  This is known as “The Wearing-Off Effect.”

Over the course of Parkinson’s Disease (PD), a substantial number of patients develop a wearing-off effect which refers to the fact that the benefits you receive from your dopaminergic medications wear off before you are due to receive your next dose. This means you may go for a period of time with relatively uncontrolled motor symptoms.

If your Parkinson’s medication is wearing off, consider participating in a clinical trial.  Visit www.clinicaltrialspotlight.com to learn about ongoing clinical trials for Parkinson’s.

If so, here is information on a currently-enrolling research study designed to evaluate an investigational immunotherapy (ipilimumab) for advanced prostate cancer.

Why is it important to continue research for new treatment options for Advanced Prostate Cancer?
The American Cancer Society estimates that 32,050 men will die of advanced prostate cancer in 2010.  Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in American men, behind only lung cancer, and accounts for about 11% of cancer-related deaths in men. Men of African or African-American descent are twice as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer as men of European descent, and are often diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. These statistics indicate that we must continue to look for alternative treatment options for patients with advanced prostate cancer.
Clinical trials in advanced prostate cancer are an important means of discovering new treatment options. In 2004, the results of two Phase 3 studies (TAX327 and SWOG S9916) established docetaxel as a new standard for first-line therapy in patients with hormone refractory prostate cancer (HRPC). Docetaxel remained the only approved treatment option in HRPC until June of this year when cabazitaxel was approved for patients that had failed docetaxel. Once again this approval was based on Phase 3 clinical trial data (TROPIC). Both docetaxel and cabazitaxel were approved based on ~ 3 month increased overall survival in their respective patient populations. Although the approval of any drug that increases survival is welcome, clearly there is an ongoing need for clinical trials investigating new drug options using innovative mechanisms of action to fight the battle against advanced prostate cancer.

What is the investigational drug Ipilimumab and how does it work?
Ipilimumab is a member of a class of agents referred to as immunotherapeutics or immunotherapy agents. These agents are designed to use a patient’s own immune system to fight disease. One theory as to how cancer cells continue to grow is that they somehow hide themselves from immune cells or that the patient’s immune response is not robust enough to kill all the cancer cells. The goal of immunotherapy agents is to either boost the immune response or somehow make cancer cells more visible to the immune system so that they can be better targeted and killed.

Ipilimumab is a fully human monoclonal antibody, which means that it binds to a specific target (antigen) within the body.  Specifically, ipilimumab binds to a molecule found on T-cells that is called Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte Antigen 4 (CTLA-4). CTLA-4’s normal role is to act as part of a breaking mechanism that keeps our immune system from over responding. When a foreign antigen is presented to a T-cell, a response is generated so that the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the foreign cells. In order to keep the immune system from generating too much of a response, which could lead to immune cells attacking non-foreign or “self” cells, CTLA-4 works in conjunction with other molecules to put a “brake” on the immune response. By binding to CTLA-4, ipilimumab removes this “brake”, potentially leading to a more robust immune response. The clinical trial described below, sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS CA184043), is designed to determine if bone-directed radiotherapy combined with ipilimumab treatment leads to an increase in survival benefit for patients with metastatic prostate cancer that have received prior docetaxel.

How do I get more information on this Research Study?
About 800 patients throughout the world, approximately 300 in the United States, are expected to participate in this study. Participants may be in the study for 1 year or more, depending on how they respond to the study therapy. The study is currently enrolling in the US and globally, with enrollment expected to continue until July 2011.
Participants in this study may receive, at no cost, study-related: medical care, study medication, laboratory work and evaluations.
Medical insurance is not necessary to participate in this study, and study-related travel/parking may be reimbursed.

To participate, you must:
have a diagnosis of prostate cancer that has metastasized to the bone
have previously undergone at least 1 chemotherapy regimen containing docetaxel (Taxotere)
A study physician will discuss complete study criteria with you

For more information about this study including the location of study centers across the country, visit www.clinicaltrialspotlight.com or clinicaltrials.gov and search under NCT00861614, then speak with your physician to discuss if participating in this study might be of benefit to you.

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects movement. The cause of Parkinson’s is a result from a deficiency in the brain of a chemical called dopamine.  Dopamine is one of many chemical messengers (called neurotransmitters) in the brain that allow nerve cells to communicate with each other. Without it, messages from the brain to the muscles are disrupted. The amount of dopamine in the brain is reduced in Parkinson’s disease because some of the nerve cells that produce it are destroyed.

It develops gradually, often starting with a barely noticeable tremor in just one hand. But while tremor may be the most well-known sign of Parkinson’s disease, the disorder also commonly causes a slowing or freezing of movement.

Friends and family may notice that your face shows little or no expression and your arms don’t swing when you walk. Speech often becomes soft and mumbling. Parkinson’s symptoms tend to worsen as the disease progresses.

While there is no cure for Parkinson’s disease, many different types of medicines can treat its symptoms. If you are searching for new Parkinson’s treatment options for this condition consider participating in a Parkinson’s clinical research study.

Clinical Trial Spotlight is a novel approach for enrolling your clinical trials. We heighten the awareness of Clinical Trial Spotlight directly to the patient population you are searching for and drive them to your trial’s landing page on our site!

Did you know that people searching for clinical trials on the web prefer to have colorful visual and/or audio information about a trial rather than just plain text? We have learned that providing clinical trial information in visual and audio formats further prompts the viewer to complete the pre-screening questionnaire, as compared to information provided in written text.

The team behind this website has over 25 years of direct patient recruitment experience. They know exactly where to place the banner ads for maximum effect and which strategic partners will be in direct contact with your specific patient population.

You no longer have to go through the expense of creating a study-specific website—Clinical Trial Spotlight becomes that website. Registering as a Sponsor and uploading all of your lay trial information is a very easy and immediate process. Once the upload is complete, and banner ads are ready, we start heightening the awareness of your trial directly to your specific patient population.