Multinational Clinical Trials Click Forward

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A new Internet-based software system developed at the National Cancer Institute may soon change how oncologists conducting clinical trials in one part of the world interact with others doing similar work on another part of the planet. Belfast City Hospital in Northern Ireland has been chosen by NCI as one of its first partners in the endeavor.

The software tool that will help make these Internet interactions possible is called net-Trials™. In development since September 1998, the net-Trials software project brings together about two dozen old clinical database systems that used different vocabularies and work processes and makes all of the data available in a single standard lexicon with a net link to NCI clinical investigators and other NCI partners both nationally and internationally.

The Web-based application is intended to make managing clinical trials going on simultaneously at multiple institutions much easier. For Northern Ireland oncologists, their participation in the net-Trials development is a major step forward for clinical trials in that country. Seamus McAleer, M.D., coordinator of the Clinical Trials Unit at Belfast City Hospital, said that 15 years ago cancer treatment in Northern Ireland was very basic with very little radiotherapy and almost no chemotherapy available.