Patient Attributes Phase 1 Clinical Trial, Research to Keeping Him Alive

Roy Hartman, 74, a Milford, Ohio, resident says what he thought was pneumonia sent him to urgent care on Christmas Eve 2012.

However, a chest X-ray found something more startling—a spot on his right lung.

"I went to the Cincinnati VA where I was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer," he says. "I was ordered to undergo chemotherapy and had six treatments."

Hartman says the therapy stabilized his tumor; however, a three month appointment after completing treatment revealed that 30 percent of the cancer had grown back and worse had spread to his other lung. 

"I was stuck—I'd have to endure chemotherapy forever otherwise the cancer would return when I stopped," he says. "Dr. (Trisha) Wise-Draper, who was a fellow overseeing my care at the time I was at the VA, joined the faculty at UC and told me about the Phase 1 Experimental Therapeutics Program within the UC Cancer Institute which might have a study that could help me."

This program offers cancer treatment options only available in an experimental clinical trial setting; the UC Cancer Institute is the only facility in the Tristate area with a phase 1 program. These clinical research trials are the first step in moving tested scientific concepts from the laboratory bench to the clinic and are intended to evaluate safe dosages, method of administration (oral or injection) and frequency. 

"Trials typically include less than 50 people and therapy is administered in a hospital setting where the patient can be closely monitored by the attending physicians and support staff," says Trisha Wise-Draper, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Division of Hematology Oncology at the UC College of Medicine and a member of both the Cincinnati Cancer Center and UC Cancer Institute who became Hartman's oncologist. "Phase 1 trials are important for patients like Roy who don't have many standard treatment options as these are therapies not yet available to patients off trial. Although they are not promised to work, it gives hope to patients with no other options and sometimes they derive great benefit."

Hartman was enrolled in a trial that targets the protein PD-L1 releasing the break on the immune system to fight lung cancer; he's using this as a second line of treatment and has had a very good response. 

"I have an infusion every two weeks and a CT scan every six weeks to track my progress," he says. "The cancer in my left lung is gone and the cancer in my right lung hasn't grown. Now, I can do just about anything I feel like doing."

Hartman enjoys camping in Brown County, Ohio, and says he heads out to nature for peace and quiet with his wife, Joyce, following each treatment. 

"I just can't say enough kind things about Trish or thank her enough," he says. "She's one of the smartest people I've ever talked to, and her devotion to all of her patients is incredible. All of the physicians and staff at UC are wonderful; they really care about you, and it shows."

As far as being part of a clinical trial, Hartman says he would do it again in a heartbeat to help himself and others.

"If there's a study out there that could help, what do you have to lose by participating?" he says. "You may not know the outcome by participating, but you certainly do know the outcome if you don't participate. In my case, it was lifesaving.

"I got two more years of life thanks to a clinical trial; I wouldn't be here without UC."