The unprecedented haste with which COVID-19 vaccines were developed has had a big impact on cancer patients and their outlook on the speed (or lack thereof) of cancer trials.

Two-thirds of 1,110 cancer patient respondents to a recent survey indicated that they believe the current pace of cancer trials is far too slow; half of the respondents cited Operation Warp Speed’s successes as the reason for that belief.

Industry should continue to increase the use of real-world data and real-world evidence in order to accelerate drug development and improve diversity in trials, recommended COTA Healthcare, which sponsored the survey conducted by PureSpectrum. Additionally, the cross-industry collaborations sparked by the pandemic should be broadened to encompass other disease areas, like oncology, and innovative trial designs should be adopted to dismantle barriers to enrollment, the survey report recommended.

Many cancer patients and their families also are willing to share their own anonymous health data to speed up research. A substantial majority of those surveyed — 89 percent — were in favor of all oncology patients sharing their anonymous health data to support the research and discovery of cancer treatments.

Cancer patients are also eager to pitch in by contributing anonymous health data themselves, the survey found. Eighty-five percent of them said they would share their anonymous data if asked, while 87 percent said they wouldn’t mind if that data had already been shared if their personal information was taken out.

Further, a majority of respondents (86 percent) felt that oncologists should be actively discussing the value of sharing data with researchers through patient interactions, but less than half of them reported that their oncologist had brought up the subject.

“We must do more to support and cultivate patient interest in donating data, especially in traditionally underserved and underrepresented communities, to ensure we have enough rich, trustworthy, realistic data to develop safe and effective therapies,” the survey report said.

Read the full report here: https://bit.ly/2Yh1FJg.