Pharma, Startups

Crowdsourcing for clinical trial design takes on prostate cancer using diabetes drug

It’s been more than a year since Transparency Life Sciences launched a platform to crowdsource […]

It’s been more than a year since Transparency Life Sciences launched a platform to crowdsource clinical trial design ideas. Its latest project involves using diabetes drug Metformin to treat prostate cancer — a condition that’s one of the top five leading causes of cancer deaths, according to the World Health Organization.

The approach to applying Metformin in prostate cancer treatment has been gaining traction. A cursory search of ClinicalTrials.gov’s website revealed there are about 10 clinical trials in various stages of development using Metformin as a treatment for prostate cancer.

The clinical study of Metformin will focus on patients with recurrent prostate cancer, demonstrated by a rising level of prostate specific antigen in their blood following surgery or radiation. The company is working on the project with Dr. Matthew Galsky, an oncologist at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. This is referred to as biochemical recurrence and can happen way before any indication that the cancer has spread shows up on imaging tests such as CT scans or bone scans. The downside of the current treatment is it involves lowering testosterone levels which can have unpleasant side effects.

The idea is to speed up the design process and get a wide variety of insights and viewpoints that could improve the clinical trial design.

In addition to prostate cancer, here’s a summary of the other projects the company is working on:

  • Diabetes drugs such as pioglitazone as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease. It’s currently looking for ideas on clinical trial design for testing efficacy in Parkinson’s disease patients.
  • Lisinopril is commonly used to treat hypertension. The ACE inhibitor is being tested as part of a treatment for patients with multiple sclerosis. The company is looking for feedback on clinical trial designs that have been submitted.

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