New Mount Sinai AI tool aims to improve access to cancer clinical trials

• About 1 in every 5 people around the world will develop cancer during their lifetime.
• While there are thousands of cancer-related clinical trials taking place every year, only about 7% of people with cancer participate in them due to access barriers.
• The Mount Sinai Tisch Cancer Center (TCC) recently launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) platform to help better connect cancer patients with potential clinical trials.

According to the World Health Organization, about 1 in every 5 people around the world will develop cancer during their lifetime.

While cancer treatment has grown over the last few years, still much needs to be done to further advance treatment and find cures.

One way in which researchers are able to find potential treatments for cancer is through clinical trials. A clinical trial is a type of study where people volunteer to participate and test new treatments, such as medications and vaccines, as well as surgical procedures, mental health therapies, and medical devices.

Although thousands of cancer-related clinical trials take place every year, past studies show that only about 7% of people with cancer participate in them.

There are several barriers that may cause people not to know about clinical trials they may be eligible for, including time and transportation restraints, lack of understanding of what a clinical trial is and how it works, and doctors being unaware of ongoing trials that patients may qualify for.

“We have approximately 10,000 new cancer patients seen across the Mount Sinai Health System (MSHS) per year and we only enroll <10% in clinical trials,” Karyn Goodman, MD, MS, professor and vice chair of Clinical Research in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and associate director of Clinical Research at Mount Sinai Tisch Cancer Center (TCC), told Medical News Today.

“Many patients and physicians are not aware that they might be eligible for a clinical trial.”

To help combat this problem, the TCC recently launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) platform to help better connect cancer patients with potential clinical trials.