VA News Service, phone: 202-273-5700
Beginning in January 1997, veterans gained expanded access to promising new approaches to cancer care under the terms of a clinical trials agreement announced by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). According to the agreement, VA will provide coverage for eligible veterans to participate in a broad range of NCI clinical trials across the country.
The new partnership paves the way for more NCI clinical trials to be carried out in VA facilities. In addition, VA will pay the medical care costs of veterans who enroll in NCI trials in non-VA facilities in selected cases.
"The agreement expands the already productive relationship between VA and NCI," said VA's Kenneth W. Kizer, M.D., under secretary for health. "It means greater access to the full range of promising new treatments for cancer."
The agreement went into effect Jan. 1, 1997, and covers NCI-sponsored prevention, diagnostic, and treatment studies around the country. Under treatment trials, the agreement includes both the smaller, early trials of new approaches, known as phase I and phase II trials, and the much larger phase III trials that compare different approaches.
"Developing an expanded pool of VA cancer researchers will strengthen our clinical research program across the board," said Robert Wittes, M.D., director of NCI's Division of Cancer Treatment, Diagnosis, and Centers. "We expect this agreement to lead to more timely answers to some major questions about preventing, diagnosing, and treating cancer."
The new agreement is part of an ongoing effort at NCI to assure continued and expanded access to clinical trials by eliminating barriers to patient enrollment. An agreement with the Department of Defense (DOD), signed last March, established a demonstration project under which the DOD's health program, TRICARE/CHAMPUS, will pay the medical care costs of patients who enroll in NCI treatment trials. The NCI is discussing similar agreements with major insurance companies, managed care organizations, and other groups. This agreement also reflects VA's recent efforts to expand its partnerships and formal relationships with non-VA health care related organizations.--an NIH HEALTHWise report, February 1997
