“Enrolling patients in clinical trials advances the standard of care for almost every disease.”
Published: June 5, 2024
By: Courtesy of UAB
Over the past decade, the University of Alabama at Birmingham has become a national leader in clinical trials — studies examining the use of new treatments in people. Every drug, device and other therapy that reaches patients in the United States must go through multiple clinical trials. And more patients than ever in Alabama have access to life-changing therapies at UAB.
In fact, according to the latest data available from the National Science Foundation’s HERD survey, UAB ranks fifth among public universities and 14th overall nationwide in clinical trials expenditures. In 2023, there were 1,469 active clinical trials at UAB.
UAB’s position has a tangible effect on everyone in the state. During the COVID pandemic, Alabamians were some of the first Americans to receive access to remdesivir and other cutting-edge treatments. The same is true for revolutionary therapies for conditions that hit Alabamians particularly hard, including cancer, diabetes, obesity and sickle cell disease. Clinical trials at UAB were instrumental in the FDA approval of therapies including GLP-1 inhibitors (such as Ozempic) for obesity and diabetes, immunotherapies for cancer, and a potentially curative gene therapy for sickle cell.
“Clinical trials are really what differentiate us,” says Anupam Agarwal, M.D., dean of the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine. “Enrolling patients in clinical trials advances the standard of care for almost every disease.” This does not mean patients in a clinical trial must miss out on the current standard of care in order to receive a cutting-edge treatment. Patients participating in a clinical trial often receive a new, experimental treatment while receiving the best available existing treatments as well.
Participating in a clinical trial can be lifesaving. “Today many patients on clinical trials are experiencing remarkable, disease-altering effects on cancers that were uniformly lethal just yesterday,” says Barry Sleckman, M.D., Ph.D., director of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB. Several patients at the O’Neal Cancer Center shared their experiences with clinical trials in this feature.
The next step, according to the university’s new Research Strategic Initiative: Growth with Purpose, is to reach even more Alabamians with the benefits of clinical trials — not just in Birmingham but in cities around the state. This is more important than ever as trials of new precision medicines bring better, more targeted treatments to patients. Because of UAB’s position in clinical trials, Alabamians will be some of the first in the country with access to these treatments — and even more Alabamians will have the chance to take part soon, says Christopher Brown, Ph.D., UAB vice president for Research.
“A large part of our focus is on increasing access and personalizing the opportunities,” Brown says. “We want to get more people involved across the state, so we are serving our citizens better.”
UAB’s impact on Alabama through clinical trials is already significant. According to a report from UAB affiliate Southern Research, Alabama ranks 16th among U.S. states in clinical trials per capita, with 67 percent of the state’s clinical trials conducted in Birmingham. One of the five goals of the UAB Research Strategic Initiative: Growth with Purpose is to expand clinical research across Alabama, including in cancer, neurology and cardiology.
Patients benefit from clinical trials because they can often receive comprehensive health care at low cost. Providers receive funding via patient recruitment fees and site operations costs, researchers advance scientific knowledge and health care delivery, and state and regional governments see increased economic growth in a high-skill industry with laddered career opportunities.
“The purposeful focus on clinical trials — among other key opportunities — in UAB’s Research Strategic Initiative, will result in lifesaving, life-changing advancements,” says UAB President Ray L. Watts. “We could not accomplish this without the talented, dedicated UAB faculty and staff, and our patients who participate in clinical trials.”
In addition to the impact on health, clinical trials generate a significant economic benefit within Alabama as well, according to the Southern Research report. They create thousands of jobs in the state and hundreds of millions of dollars in economic impact, but these effects are centered in the Greater Birmingham area.