At Make 2nds Count we would like to see every patient with secondary breast cancer offered the option of a trial at some point in their treatment pathway. 

However, we funded a research survey in the UK of 768 secondary breast cancer patients and found that only 23% of respondents had an oncologist raise clinical trials as a consideration.

Make 2nds Count fund a Patient Trials Advocate (PTA) service that is run by senior oncology nurses. The service aims to raise awareness of the benefits of clinical trials, and can identify what clinical trials are currently recruiting within the UK. As a patient with secondary breast cancer you can book to speak to the PTA team. The PTA team can answer any questions you may have in relation to clinical trials, explain how clinical trials work and how you can get involved, regardless of where you live in the UK. Our PTA nurses can also conduct a personalised clinical trials database search for you which can help improve discussions about trials with your specialist team and help identify potentially suitable trials.  

It’s important to be aware that clinical trials have eligibility criteria that may exclude you from taking part. For example, some trials in secondary breast cancer will exclude patients with breast cancer that has spread to the brain, others might exclude patients if they have already been on a similar class/type of drug. If you have heard about a trial that you may be interested in, it is important that the eligibility criteria is considered and the PTA team can offer support with this.