The 1st Hematology Training and Research Congress was held at Gloria Golf Resort Hotel located in the Belek Tourism Center.
Speaking at the Congress, HEAD President Prof. Dr. Burhan Turgut said in his statement that they particularly addressed the clinical trials of drugs in the congress which is focused on training-research. Pointing out that serious work has been done in the fields of hematology and oncology in the country in recent years, Turgut informed that Turkey ranked thirty first in the study on clinical drug trials, and sixteenth in the world in consumption.
Stating that the pharmaceutical industry has developed very rapidly in recent years, Turgut said the following:
"Many new drugs are being introduced, particularly for the treatment of cancer. These cancers are hematological cancers which we refer to as blood and lymph cancers which consists of the cancer group where the new biological agents are the most effective. These drugs cannot be introduced to the market as soon as they are discovered. Patients also have no access to these drugs for a few years after they are discovered. The release of a drug takes 3-5 years. This period can rise up to 10 years for some drugs. Particularly, there are ‘phase 2’ and ‘phase 3’ studies that are being carried out in Turkey. We think there should be more of such studies. That is actually the goal of our association.”
Pointing out that patients with blood, lymph and lymph node cancers have no time to wait for treatment, Turgut said that the treatment of the diagnosed patients should be planned as soon as possible.
Turgut said: "There is a drug, but it's not on the market. You can only access this drug through clinical trials. Therefore, patients need to participate in the clinical trial”, and mentioned that this is an advantage for the patients.
Turgut stated that there should be a local population of patients who can participate in a clinical trial to be able to conduct a clinical trial in Turkey or a certain center, and hence, the way for patients to have early and free access to medication is their participation in clinical research.