Introducing New Technology For Compassionate Use Patients In The South Sound

For a cancer patient who has exhausted all lines of traditional treatment and conventional trials, Compassionate Use is frequently their last resort. Compassionate Use are “trials” in which the FDA and pharmaceutical companies work together to bring a specific treatment to a patient—or a group of patients—which otherwise would not be available. The process of acquiring the medication for a Compassionate Use trial can be very tedious and is typically estimated at nearly 120 hours per Compassionate Use request.

The South Sound CARE Foundation’s newly implemented OneSource™ technology provides SSCF Cancer Research Coordinators a method for consolidating their approach across geographic and regulatory boundaries. The solution provides a way for physicians and patients to explore and match to investigational products through the streamlined infrastructure which automates requests and tracks approvals, significantly reducing dedicated hours to 20-30 hours per request. This will dramatically
increase the implementation of Compassionate Use efforts in the South Sound.

“Compassionate Use requires significant effort, time, money, energy, and staff,” said South Sound CARE Founder, Frank Senecal. “Many institutions find that it is too work intensive and costly and decide that they cannot afford to participate in Compassionate Use. It is, however, more or less in the wheel house of South Sound CARE. It’s what we do. Such an opportunity provides hope for longer survival and control of the disease. It provides another path for hope.”

SSCF is uniquely positioned to provide this new service in the community as the Foundation does not rely on revenue from research to provide access and care. Generous donor support allows for these Compassionate Use services—and the costs associated with them—to be provided free of charge to partner sites.

Reach out to SSCF to learn more about Compassionate Use in the South Sound.