Oncology

Clinical Trials at the Rambam Oncology Research Unit

Oncological clinical research focuses on developing drugs and devices that provide optimal treatments for different types and stages of cancer. Patients participating in these trials have access to cutting-edge drugs and procedures that are unavailable elsewhere.

Every year, around 500 patients are referred to Rambam’s Oncology Clinical Trials Unit by medical centers across northern Israel, and close to 300 ultimately take part in a trial. Since the patients’ safety and rights are a top priority, they are closely monitored by the Unit’s staff of healthcare professionals throughout the process.

Each new treatment undergoes at least three phases of clinical trials before it is considered safe and effective:

Phase I:

 Completely new treatments are tested on a limited number of patients, with the goal of determining the correct dosage and seeing whether there are significant side effects. Initial data is collected on the treatment’s efficacy. Volunteers are usually cancer patients for whom no other treatments are available for their conditions.

Phase II:

 Assesses the drug’s efficacy on a larger cohort, usually without a parallel cohort that receives a placebo.

Phase III:

 Carried out on a large number of volunteers, the goal is to compare the efficacy of the new treatment with existing treatments for a given medical condition, including side effects. Participating volunteers are randomly divided into two cohorts: one receives the new treatment while the second is given the existing treatment. 

Take part in a clinical trial

The clinical tials unit at Rambam runs  clinical trials in different oncology fields. click below to look for a clinical trial