What we do

The Cancer and Haematology Academic Research Team CHART - is a clinical trials team working across Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust delivering world class clinical trials of all phases at national and international level.  Our project team members work closely linked to the Imperial trials delivery team which allows for a more efficient and effective way of trial progression.  This ensures a smooth transition from start-up stages to study activation, making sure we stick to the ongoing changes in study delivery pathways within NHS sites.

We are extremely fortunate to work with world renowned investigators from the initial stages of protocol development to the end results and publication.  Our aim is to produce well designed studies in order to achieve high-quality, reliable and statistically sound data.  We have a robust quality assurance system in place to ensure adherence to research governance standards and appropriate resources to provide adequate infrastructure.  Our senior staff and scientific expertise ensures high standard results to all the trials managed within our team.  We also assist external sponsors with managing their studies in the UK.

As part of this work, we can provide a competitive budget for commercially funded trials which require a short turn around.  Our unique costing model adheres to Imperial College London rules and regulations.   Our costs include the work provided by the delivery teams within the NHS setting according to NIHR guidelines.

Why it is important

CHART started due to an increasing demand for management and study support of investigator led academic trials and non-commercial externally sponsored studies. There is a range of studies that do not require full ICTU support, which are considered scientifically strategic and financially important to ICL and ICHNT.  

How it can benefit patients

Because of our unique way of collaborating with our NHS teams, we are able to make trials available to patients in a much more direct and fast pace manner.

Summary of current research

We specialise in cancer trials including early phase, IMP and non-IMP studies. We also support a range of haematology and surgery studies within our portfolio at national and international level.

Active trials:

• Precision HCC | Molecular markers to enable precision medicine in Hepatocellular Cancer.
• ATB/Antibiotic ICPI | Qualification of antibiotic-induced gut perturbation as a therapeutically actionable driver of anti-cancer immunity. 
• SSTR2 and lutetium/LANTANA | LANTana: Lutathera and ASTX727 in Neuroendocrine Tumours.
• FLiCIR | Fibrolamellar Hepatocellular Cancer Registry.
• GUMBIT | A pilot study to investigate the gut microbiome in patients with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP).
• MRI scan to investigate microbleeds in Thrombocytopenic patients | Can we detect subclinical brain micro haemorrhages in patients with thrombocytopenia using susceptibility sensitive MRI in order to better direct treatment.
• VMS/Sleep | Examining the relationship between vasomotor symptoms (VMS) and sleep disturbances in prostate cancer patients receiving androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) - a prospective study using a combination of questionnaires and actigraphy.

Trials closed to recruitment:

• STARKAP | Study fo TSR-042 in the treatment of HIV-associated combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) refractory kaposi Sarcoma.
• PELICAN | A phase II study of etoposide-carboplatin (EP) chemotherapy in combination with pembrolizumab and lenvatinib maintenance in advanced high-grade neuroendocrine tumours (HG-NETs).r
• ProGREsS | Personalised Genetic Risk Estimates for Cancer Screening & Prevention. 
• Radiomics Panc | Development and validation of predictive and prognostic cancer biomarkers using Radiomics.
• PRIME | PRIME-HCC: Preliminary assessment of safety and bioactivity of the Ipilimumab and Nivolumab combination prior to liver resection (LR) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). 
• HELP-ER | Prospective Study of HE4 serum Level in Patients with First Relapsed Ovarian Cancer.
• VIGILANT | naVIGation Invitations Liver surveillANce upTake

Closed trials

• JAKaL | A phase Ib study of INCB039110, a JAK1 inhibitor, in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.
• PETAL | A Phase Ib Study of Pembrolizumab following Trans-Arterial Chemoembolization
  in Primary Liver Carcinoma MK3475-540.
• ArTisaN | A Phase II Assessment of the Safety and Efficacy of TheraSphere® Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT) in the treatment of Metastatic (Liver) Neuroendocrine Tumours (NETs).
• Progem-2 | A Phase IB open label, dose-escalation study to assess the safety, pharmacokinetics and clinical activity of NUC-1031 given on days 1 & 8 with carboplatin on day 1, q3-weekly for 6 cycles in participants with recurrent ovarian cancer.
• Ovpsych2 | A randomised controlled trial to evaluate the impact of psychological support intervention after chemotherapy for women with ovarian cancer.
• Shortened hydration | A prospective study of tolerance comparing the current hydration regimen for the ABC02 chemotherapy regimen versus a shorter hydration protocol.
• On-Covid | OnCovid: natural history and outcomes of cancer patients during the COVID19 epidemic.
• AXMUS C | A phase II double blind, randomised controlled trial of vegf inhibitor axitinib monotherapy with early dynamic contrast enhanced ultrasound monitoring in chemorefractory third line metastatic colorectal cancer.
• MAGENTA | Metabonomic-genomic signature correlates of clinical resistance in metastatic colorectal cancer treated with anti-egfr therapy.
• Metabonomics | Metabonomics and Integrative Biology for Gynaecological Cancer
• PRIMAL | F-18 Fluoro-L-Thymidine PET for assessment of treatment Response to Immunotherapy Cancer: PRIMal study.
• TRUST | Trial on radical upfront surgery in advanced ovarian cancer.
• MATIS | Multi-arm trial of Inflammatory Signal Inhibitors for COVID-19 (MATIS).
• RHEPaiR | Safety & efficacy of individualized dosing using the Holium platform in patients with unresectable Hepatocellular Cancer.
• NELMAS (NET with liver met) | Management of neuroendocrine liver metastases in adjuvant setting.