Establishes the clinical trial access and education fund to provide grants for certain services for patients with life-threatening or disabling…

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◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Gustavo Rivera says this is needed

New therapies to treat cancer and other life-threatening diseases are being developed at an increasing pace. Clinical trials are the most effective method of determining the benefits of experimental treatments and are critical to improving health care and mortality rates for patients with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. A large number of pediatric enrollees in clinical trials led to the discovery of groundbreaking therapies and a survival rate of over 80% for childhood cancer. To achieve a similar rate of success for adults with cancer and other diseases, information and access to clinical trials must be made more widely available to patients and their treating health care providers. A number of studies have looked at the reasons for low adult patient participation in clinical trials. One such study conducted by the University of California Davis' Cancer Center surveyed patients and physicians about clinical trial participation. Of the 276 patients surveyed, only 76 said they would participate in clinical trials if recommended by their physician. Of this, only 39 actually enrolled. The two most common reasons why patients declined to participate were related to a desire for other treatments and the distance to the cancer center. The study authors made a series of recommendations to overcome these barriers including the need for greater physician and patient education on the status, availability, and benefits of clinical trials, as well as the need to address geographical issues that serve as strong deterrents to clinical trial access. The Clinical Trial Access and Education Fund will address these major barriers identified by the clinical research and anecdotally from patients and providers in New York by providing grants to not-for-profit community groups, health care provider associations, and research centers that conduct clinical trials so they may provide and/or facili- tate patient navigation, transportation, lodging, and patient and provider education to achieve greater patient participation in clinical trials.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.