Clinical Trials

The intensive clinical activity of the IOV is carried out by hospital and university doctors who use cutting-edge treatment programs, with the most accredited conventional cancer treatments. This clinical activity is flanked and complemented by an equally lively research activity that leads to the acquisition of new knowledge for the progress of medicine and offers the possibility to use innovative experimental therapies as therapeutic alternatives, in particular, in patients in whom conventional drugs have failed or have been found to be poorly effective.

This last aspect is achieved thanks to the continuous participation of IOV in clinical trials, both national and international, which involve the use of non-commercialized medicines that are not available on the Italian market. In addition, the Institute’s medical specialists promote, design and carry out clinical trials that explore possible new indications of drugs already on the market, in order to test new therapeutic strategies and thus offer further possibilities of cure.

All clinical trials, whether promoted by the pharmaceutical industry or by non-profit organizations, are conducted at IOV according to strict ethical, regulatory and quality standards. Before being started, each trial must be approved by the Ethics Committee for clinical trials, in accordance with the regulations on clinical trials, the dictates of good clinical practice (GCP) and the ethical principles indicated in the Helsinki Declaration.

For the patients included in the experimental protocols, the main care reference is the research nurses, who represent a flagship of the scientific activity of the IOV, one of only two Italian centers to have this professional figure.

The levels of research, diagnosis and treatment conducted in the Institute place the IOV among the most accredited cancer centers nationwide.