NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Dr. David Spigel is a medical oncologist at SCRI Oncology Partners in Nashville and President and Chief Medical Officer for Sarah Cannon Research Institute. He looks ahead to developing treatments and evolving care.
Are there clinical trials you can participate in, even if you don’t live near a big hospital?
The mission at Sarah Cannon Research Institute is to make sure patients have access to clinical trials in the communities where they live. Their network is spread across the United States and touch about 1 in 5 patients diagnosed with cancer.
Can AI personalize your cancer treatment?
Medical professionals are using artificial intelligence for more efficient and applicable care for patients. Dr. Spigel says his collogues in the pharmaceutical industry are exploring the use of AI for target discovery and drug treatment discovery. He expects to see major advances in this industry as well as pathology and radiology in the next 5 to 10 years.
Are there newer, ‘smarter’ treatments you should know about?
Dr. Spigel says there are breakthroughs occurring every month or 2 months. Immune-based therapies continue to evolve, trying to figure out how to reach tumors where current therapies are not working. There are also targeted therapies that look at signals within cancer cells and use therapies to target those signals within the cancer.
What are new treatment options that could help if other therapies stop working?
One idea is to harness the immune system and target the cancer cells at the same time. Antibodies can be designed to find the cancer cells specifically and bring the immune system along with it. Dr. Spigel says one example of that is bispecific antibody technology. Medical professionals already have an approved therapy on the market and hope to see more. There's also genetic sequencing that can identify alterations in the cancer, and therapies are being tested to take advantage of the cancer's weaknesses.
You can find more information at cancercarescri.com.
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