All funds raised by the Avner Nahmani Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund are directed to the GI CANCER Institute to conduct new research into treatments for pancreatic cancer. The research will be conducted by the AGITG and will involve cancer clinicians across Australia and New Zealand. Having the trial conducted in Australia will potentially bring new treatments to Australian patients three to five years sooner compared to a similar study being conducted overseas.

To oversee the development of this new trial the AGITG formed an expert steering committee and in May 2009 the committee called for submissions for new research proposals to be funded by the Avner Nahmani Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund.

A Pancreas Research Workshop was held on the 19th of June 2009. The workshop, co-chaired by Professor Michael Findlay of Auckland University and invited guest expert Professor Margaret Tempero from the University of California San Francisco, was convened to discuss the worldwide state of pancreatic cancer research and the five highest scoring research proposals submitted beforehand to the workshop’s steering committee.

Consistent with the identified need for personalized medicine in the management of pancreatic cancer, the proposals presented included:

1. Studies exploring the use of emerging prognostic and predictive biomarkers to direct management in this diseases
2. Tissue collection substudies from recently completed or ongoing multicentre randomized trials
3. A study addressing cancer cachexia in pancreatic cancer with a supervised resistance exercise program.

These concepts will be incorporated into a clinical trial. An outline for the proposed clinical trial was presented to the AGITG Scientific Advisory Committee and to conference delegates at the AGITG’s Annual Scientific Meeting in September. The study design is continuing to be developed by the steering committee following feedback received at these meetings.

The trial that the Avner Nahmani Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund is supporting will focus on the development of biomarkers which may help pancreatic cancer researchers and clinicians select the optimal treatment for each individual patient.

This approach, also called personalized medicine, is underpinned by an understanding of the biological uniqueness of each patient and their tumour and is hoped to improve patient outcomes.

It is expected that the concept will continue to be developed through the rest of 2009 and move to protocol development in the first half of 2010. The final trial design will be reviewed again by the AGITG Scientific Advisory Committee and a Consumer Advisory Panel in mid-2010. The trial will also need to be reviewed by a Human Research Ethics Committee. The trial will then be due to start accruing patients early in 2011 with the results analysis and publication of results in 2014.