Enrollment in clinical trials is necessary if steady progress is to be made. In childhood cancers, enrollment in clinical trials is 60%. Because of the high percentage of families participating, the cure rate for childhood cancer has jumped from a meager 10% in 1970 to today's overall survival rate of almost 70%. By contrast, adult cancers typically have only 3% of patients enrolled in trials. Trials which take years to fill mean that treatment advances are slow and expensive.

For high-risk cancers, clinical trials offer possible access to promising new treatments. Many promising biological treatments, such as Gleevec and Iressa, are currently being tested on a range of cancers.

Clinical trials also fine-tune treatments that have been shown to cure, making incremental improvements in the quality of life for cancer patients, during and after treatment.

Patient-Centered Guides encourages patients to consider clinical trials as one treatment option. We offer several ways to do this: Our book Cancer Clinical Trials, our website at www.patientcenters.com/trials, the clinical trials chapter in each of our books on individual pediatric and adult cancers, and now the HopeLink searchable database available from our website.

Patient-Centered Guides is glad to offer a searchable database of cancer clinical trials, developed and maintained by HopeLink Corporation. In this, we join other patient-oriented organizations, such as the Colon Cancer Alliance, Lance Armstrong Foundation, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Foundation, National Breast Cancer Coalition, National Brain Tumor Foundation, National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, Oncology Nursing Society, and Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

We decided to offer this service after comparing it to other available search tools. The HopeLink Clinical Trial Service, a free, easy-to-use, comprehensive database of over 1,800 cancer trials, provides patients and advocates with the latest information on drug therapies under development, including enrollment information and preliminary eligibility requirements. There is no fee paid to HopeLink (or us) for patient enrollment.

By pointing patients to this search interface, we hope that more patients will be aware of and consider clinical trials, among their treatment options.

About Patient-Centered Guides

We publish clear, concise, easy to understand information about the medical, practical and emotional aspects of health issues. Our authors are patient activists, knowledgeable about specific conditions and diseases, who have built strong and networked communities of patients, families, and caregivers.

Patient-Centered Guides is a wholly-owned subsidiary of O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. O'Reilly is recognized worldwide for its technical books that provide value to people who are experiencing information pain. O'Reilly publishes books that make a difference in people's lives.

More information about Patient-Centered Guides is at www.patientcenters.com.

About HopeLink

HopeLink is a privately held healthcare information technology company that provides products and services that build efficiency into the clinical trial process by enabling information access between drug developers, patients, and their respective agents. The company's initial product improves access to trial information and accelerates patient enrollment into trials. The HopeLink Clinical Trial Service, a comprehensive hosted database of cancer trial listings, is widely available at the websites of HopeLink's Syndicated Network partners. Additional information on HopeLink is available at www.hopelink.com.