Hope Beyond Standard Care: Clinical Trials for Cancer Patients in Israel

In Israel, there are leading medical centers approved by the Ministry of Health to conduct clinical trials in the field of immunotherapy, including:

• Access to drugs not yet available on the market
• Possibility of personalized treatment according to the genetic profile of the tumor
• Close supervision by a senior oncology team and researchers

In the first stage, we suggest contacting us as a regular contact and sending us all the medical material related to the disease, such as: a recent medical summary from your treating physician in Hebrew, Russian or English. You can send it to [email protected] or WhatsApp by phone +972523373108(Medical Tourism Departmrnt). If the oncology team is impressed and decides that you are suitable for other treatments that the oncology clinic can offer and you have not yet received, then you will receive a summons to come to us for treatment. Patients can request an online consultation with a treating physician before arriving in Israel (this service may require a fee).

If our oncologists decide that it is not possible to treat with existing protocols, we will refer the request to specialists in clinical research treatments in the field of oncology and they will try to find a treatment that is suitable for you.

Not every patient can automatically be integrated into every clinical study, even if it is the same type of cancer. Each clinical trial operates according to a specific and precise set of “entry criteria,” which are determined in advance by the investigators and approved by the medical authorities, to ensure “the effectiveness of the trial and the safety of the patients.”

This means that each trial has “different criteria,” which can include:

• Type and size of the tumor
• General health
• Stage of the disease (early or advanced)
• History of previous treatments
• Test results such as PD-L1 or HPV
• Physical performance according to the ECOG scale

In other words – “each trial is a world in itself.” A patient may qualify for one trial but not another, even if it appears to be the same medical diagnosis.

How do you know if you are suitable?

At our medical center, we perform a professional screening process (pre-screening) based on your medical documents. Our goal is to:

• Understand the disease situation
• Check for initial suitability for available studies
• Offer personalized medical solutions

Suitable patients will then be referred for a professional conversation with the leading oncologist in the field of research, for explanation, further examination, and guidance in the decision-making process.

Why is it important to know this?

An early understanding of the admission requirements can save time, reduce frustration, and clarify that being excluded from a particular study doesn’t mean that treatment is no longer an option, but simply a clinical adjustment aimed at protecting the patient and maintaining the credibility of the study.

In most cases, research treatments are funded by a hospital or various companies such as pharmaceutical companies and more…

Usually, the treatment itself is free of charge, except for tests, hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and more that are not included in the study protocol. For example, according to a study treatment plan, a patient is supposed to receive medications as part of a day hospital stay, have blood tests, and doctor visits between treatments. None of this should cost money. If a patient feels unwell and decides to go to the emergency room, this is not directly related to a clinical trial, so the patient will pay for the visit out of their own money.

It is very important to emphasize that before starting a research treatment, a patient receives a full explanation of the treatment, its stages, the amount of time required, and more. No patient begins treatment without an explanation and a signed consent to the treatment.

Clinical trials in the field of oncology are very similar to regular treatments that oncology patients have usually already received. This involves administering certain medications that are given in day hospitals or regular hospitalizations. There are usually differences of a few weeks between treatment and treatment, and the only difference that patients notice is the frequency of visits or tests that must be performed during a clinical trial.

Usually, a first assessment of response to treatment is carried out between 4-8 weeks from the start of treatment.

It is also important to emphasize that the conditions for admission to treatment vary and depend on the funding body of the treatment, and it is important to clarify costs before starting treatment.

This is an important question, as clinical trials often involve patients with advanced-stage cancer who have exhausted standard treatment options (stage 4 cancer treatment) and often these are patients who have already exhausted all conventional treatments or other advanced cancer treatments. There are also patients who have just been diagnosed and are looking for the most advanced treatment for cancer and do not want standard treatments. Since the essence of clinical treatments is research, it is important to understand that these treatments can be groundbreaking or alternatively without any response. We believe in offering hope through carefully tailored treatments for each patient. We are committed to helping you find the right treatment — whether it’s in Israel, Germany, the United States, or elsewhere.

Immunotherapy is one of the biggest breakthroughs in oncology medicine in the past decade. It aims to harness a patient’s immune system to identify and destroy cancer cells – instead of (or in addition to) treatments like chemotherapy or radiation.

What is an immunotherapy clinical trial?

Immunotherapy clinical trials test:

• New drugs that activate the immune system (e.g., monoclonal antibodies);
• Innovative combinations of immunotherapy with existing treatments;
• New biomarkers (such as PD-L1, MSI, or TMB) to predict response to treatment;
• New delivery routes (e.g., local delivery to the tumor or by metered-dose infusion).

Who is it for?

Immunotherapy is not suitable for every type of cancer – but clinical trials are currently underway for patients with:

• Lung cancer (NSCLC);
• Melanoma;
• Kidney cancer;
• Bladder cancer;
• Triple-negative breast cancer;
• Pancreatic cancer (often in trials with novel combinations).

The list of clinical studies in the field of oncology is constantly changing and depends on the results of each study. Hundreds of studies are being conducted in the field of oncology in Israel, most of which involve medical partners from abroad and vice versa. This means that the teams are involved not only in studies in Israel but also outside of Israel. This means that the ability to adapt treatments is great. It is important to understand that not being suitable for a study in a particular hospital does not mean that there is no research treatment elsewhere, so our teams headed by Dr. Meyerowitz will do their utmost to find a treatment for you. Below is a list of areas in oncology that have treatments that are at a very advanced stage of research:

• Lung cancer clinical trials

1. Histologically confirmed metastatic or locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer with documented disease progression following therapy containing an anti-PD-1/PD-L1 antibody 2;
2. Patients with locally advanced disease that cannot be removed by surgery (stage 3);
3. Complementary treatment to surgery (adjuvant) after radiation therapy and chemotherapy;
4. Patients with advanced-stage small cell lung cancer after treatment with platinum, etoposide, and durvalumab (DeLLphi-305);
5. Patients with advanced or metastatic NSCLC (that has spread beyond the lung) with a confirmed mutation in the EGFR gene;
6. First-line treatment for metastatic disease for patients with metastatic squamous cell lung cancer;
7. Preoperative (neoadjuvant) and postoperative (adjuvant) treatment;
8. Phase 1 study of MK-4464 as monotherapy and in combination with pembrolizumab in participants with advanced/metastatic solid tumors (MK4464-001).

• Breast cancer clinical trials in Israel

1. New treatment for triple negative breast cancer;
2. Patients with HR-positive/HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer with a detectable ESR1 mutation without disease progression during first-line aromatase inhibitor + CDK4/6 inhibitor therapy;
3. A study of Sacituzumab Govitecan in subjects with triple-negative, PD-L1-negative metastatic breast cancer (ASCENT-03);
4. Patients with early ER+/HER- breast cancer who are at intermediate-high or high risk of recurrence and have completed definitive local therapy, with no evidence of disease;
5. Research treatment for patients with confirmed, locally advanced or metastatic TNBC, not suitable for surgical resection, who had progression of the disease after at least one line of systemic treatment, given against disease in an advanced/metastatic stage;
6. Research treatment for patients with confirmed, locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer, not suitable for surgical resection, who had disease progression after at least one hormonal treatment and treatment with a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor given against stage disease advanced/metastatic.

• Prostate cancer clinical research in Israel

1. Non-hormonal prostate cancer treatment;
2. Treatment of metastatic hormone-sensitive (castration-sensitive) prostate adenocarcinoma;
3. Studies for metastatic patients whose cancer no longer responds to hormone therapy who have not yet received treatment with the investigational drug MK-5684 alone or in combination with various conventional therapies;
4. Feasibility study of preoperative brachytherapy using alpha radiation in men with preoperative prostate cancer. CTP-PRST-02-RM;
5. Gastric adenocarcinoma, gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma, or advanced, unresectable, or metastatic esophageal adenocarcinoma.

• Bladder and Kidney cancer research in Israel

1. Preoperative treatment in patients who are not suitable for cisplatin and undergo total cystectomy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer (VOLGA);
2. Patients with previously untreated locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cell carcinoma that expresses HER2 (IHC 1+ or higher) (SGNDV-001);
3. Monotherapy or combination therapy in participants with locally advanced or metastatic transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder (Duravelo-2) BT8009-230;
4. Treatment with blezotifen in combination with plavociclib versus treatment with blezotifen alone in participants with advanced renal cell carcinoma (MK-6482-024).

• Pancreatic cancer clinical trial Israel

1. New treatment for stage 4 pancreatic cancer;
2. Patients receive a combination of ABBV-151 along with ABBV-181 by infusion.

• Liver and Biliary Tract cancer clinical trial Israel

1. Patients with biliary tract cancer on second or more lines of therapy;
2. Patients with BTC (intrahepatic or extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma [CCA] or gallbladder cancer [GBC] in advanced (metastatic) and/or inoperable (locally advanced) histologically confirmed;
3. Patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) in second-line therapy;
4. Patients with biliary tract cancer (BTC) in second-line therapy or higher;
5. Patients with primary liver cancer (HCC) in second-line therapy.

• Head cancer Head and Neck Cancer (HNSCC) trial Israel

1. HPV+ head neck cancer treatment;
2. PD-L1 head neck cancer trial;
3. Unresectable locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck;
4. Locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck;
5. Patients with unresectable, recurrent, or metastatic human papillomavirus 16 (HPV16+)-positive squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC) with PD-L1 expression;
6. Patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (MORPHEUS-HEAD AND NECK CANCER) CO43613;
7. Study of the combination of ABBV-151 with ABBV-181 in infusion.

• Colorectal cancer clinical trials in Israel

1. KRAS colon cancer new treatment;
2. Patients with previously treated metastatic colorectal cancer that is not amenable to surgical resection (M24-311);
3. Patients with unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC);
4. Patients with unresectable or metastatic left-sided colorectal cancer without KRAS/NRAS and BRAF gene mutations (OrigAMI 2);
5. A phase 2 study investigating the use of pembrolizumab in combination with levantib in patients with selected solid tumors who have previously been treated (LEAP-005);
6. Phase 1/2 study of the tolerability and antitumor activity of BND-22 in patients with advanced solid tumors.

• Skin cancer (including melanoma) clinical trials Israel

1. BRAF melanoma targeted trial;
2. Patients with squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC).

• Gynecology (Ovarian cancer (experimental treatment in Israel

1. Clinical trials for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer;
2. PARP inhibitor trial ovarian cancer;
3. A Phase 1/2 dose-escalation and expansion study to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and antitumor activity of BND-22 in patients with advanced solid tumors;
4. Patients with metastatic uterine cancer who have not yet received treatment (pembrolizumab treatment versus doublet platinum-based chemotherapy, as first-line treatment);
5. Patients with platinum-resistant metastatic ovarian cancer;
6. Clinical trial of pembrolizumab (MK-3475), to evaluate biomarkers that predict response to treatment in subjects with advanced solid tumors (KEYNOTE 158).

• Bladder cancer clinical research in Israel

1. New treatment muscle invasive bladder cancer;
2. A study for patients with unresectable or metastatic disease who are resistant to or are not candidates for the currently approved treatment.

• Brain cancer (glioblastoma, astrocytoma) clinical trial in Israel

1. Radiation therapy for glioblastoma tumors in combination with drugs.

• Pediatric cancer (ALL), brain tumors, etc. clinical trials in Israel

1. Childhood leukemia research Israel;
2. Experimental brain tumor treatment children.