In September 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) released new guidance on preventative treatment for tuberculosis (TB). Thanks to new evidence from two randomised controlled clinical trials, the WHO now recommends that contacts of people with multidrug-resistant TB take six months of daily levofloxacin. In this episode of the Trial Talk podcast, we find out more about the TB-CHAMP and VQUIN trials. We also learn how the teams came together to combine their data and strengthen their evidence, using new statistical methodologies developed at the MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL. The episode features interviews with Anneke Hesseling, Principal Investigator for TB-CHAMP, based at Stellenbosch University, and Trinh Duong, based at the MRC CTU at UCL, the trial statistician for TB-CHAMP and lead for the combined data analysis with VQUIN.

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9/23/2024

Optimisation immunotherapy clinical trials investigate ways of reducing the intensity of immunotherapy cancer treatment. This could be beneficial for patients’ quality of life. But these trials can be challenging to run, as patients may be concerned about the impact that reducing the intensity of treatment could have on the cancer. This episode of the Trial Talk podcast focuses on the MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL’s OPTIC study, which explores how people with cancer feel about taking part in optimisation immunotherapy trials. Clinical Fellow Sophie Merrick discusses the main barriers that patients face and recommendations to address them. Resources: •OPTIC study page: www.mrcctu.ucl.ac.uk/studies/all-st…/refine/optic/ •OPTIC results paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41416-024-02756-x.pdf •REFINE podcast episode: on.soundcloud.com/Fe3C76csHkgCg2or5 For questions or feedback on the series, message us at mrcctu.engage@ucl.ac.uk For more information and to access the transcript: bit.ly

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6/18/2024

The MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL is committed to actively involving patients and the public in our trials. All our Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) work is overseen by our PPI Group, made up of MRC CTU staff alongside seven patient representatives, with a wide range of experience in different areas. In this episode of the Trial Talk podcast, two members of the Unit’s PPI Group, Richard Stephens and Ian Newsome, discuss what PPI means to them; how they got involved as patient representatives in clinical research; and how the MRC CTU at UCL embeds PPI into our trials. Resources: • Our PPI group: www.mrcctu.ucl.ac.uk/patients-publi…our-ppi-group/ • PPI resources: www.mrcctu.ucl.ac.uk/patients-publi…ppi-resources/ • Testing Treatments: Better Research for Better Healthcare (book): www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK66204/ For more information and to access the transcript: bit.ly/3KlKtak For questions or feedback on the podcast series, message us at mrcctu.engage@ucl.ac.uk.

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5/29/2024

An estimand is a description of the research question a trial seeks to answer, which can help researchers better understand how their study should be designed and analysed. Estimands also provide a clear way to communicate treatment effects to different stakeholders. This episode of the Trial Talk podcast features Principal Research Fellow Brennan Kahan, exploring how triallists could benefit from using estimands. Brennan also discusses his recent paper which aims to demystify new guidance on the use of estimands. Resources: •The estimands framework: a primer on the ICH E9(R1): www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj-2023-076316 •'We must let the research question drive study methods' opinion piece: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9908044/ •Estimands in cluster-randomized trials: choosing analyses that answer the right question: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9908044/

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4/25/2024

Every year on 1st December, we mark World AIDS Day to show solidarity in the fight against HIV and AIDS, and to remember those who have sadly lost their lives. Since the start of the global AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, researchers have made enormous progress towards preventing HIV transmission, and treating those who are living with HIV so that the virus remains suppressed. But while there have been marked improvements for adults, treatment coverage in children and adolescents is lagging behind. In the second of our World AIDS Day episodes, we highlight the important role that young people living with HIV play in research, by shaping clinical trials to better serve the needs of their community. This episode features Lungile Jafta, who works closely with young people through Penta’s youth engagement programmes, and Gugu, a former Youth Trials Board member from South Africa who is living with HIV.

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11/30/2023

Every year on 1st December, we mark World AIDS Day to show solidarity in the fight against HIV and AIDS, and to remember those who have sadly lost their lives. Since the start of the global AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, researchers have made enormous progress towards preventing HIV transmission, and treating those who are living with HIV so that the virus remains suppressed. But while there have been marked improvements for adults, treatment coverage in children and adolescents is lagging behind. In the first of our World AIDS Day episodes, Dr Anna Turkova, Clinical Principal Research Fellow at the MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL, and Philippa Musoke, Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health at Makerere University, explore the reasons for these disparities and how the MRC CTU at UCL is working to close the gap between adults and children through clinical trials.

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11/30/2023

STAMPEDE is a long-running trial in advanced prostate cancer, in which nearly 12,000 men have taken part. Thanks to its multi-arm multi-stage platform design, STAMPEDE has tested many different treatments and directly led to improvements in the standard of prostate cancer care several times. This Trial Talk podcast mini-series will explore the trial’s journey from its inception in the early 2000s to the end of patient recruitment in March 2023. In the final part, Max Parmar and Nick James look back over the trial’s impact on clinical practice and platform trial design, and look forward to STAMPEDE2 and their hopes for the future of prostate cancer research. - Further information is available on the STAMPEDE study page at www.mrcctu.ac.uk For questions or feedback on the series, message us at mrcctu.engage@ucl.ac.uk For more information and to access the transcript: bit.ly/3OQWhV8 As a listener, your opinion is very valuable to us. Please help us to improve the podcast in future

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8/23/2023