MRC CTU Podcasts

UKCTOCS (UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening) is one of the largest screening trials in ovarian cancer. More than 200,000 women from England, Wales and Northern Ireland took part in it, and it ran for almost two decades. Designing and running such a large and lengthy trial came with its own challenges. In this episode, Professor Usha Menon discusses the key challenges that UKCTOCS faced in its design, conduct an analysis, and how the team addressed them.

Further information is available on the UKCTOCS website at https://ukctocs.mrcctu.ucl.ac.uk/

Listen to the episode about the UKCTOCS trial results at https://bit.ly/48pK94J

For questions or feedback on the series, message us at [email protected]

For more information and to access the transcript: https://bit.ly/45XRyWT

As a listener, your opinion is very valuable to us. Please help us to improve the podcast in the future by filling in this short survey: forms.office.com/e/PjfjQ5Mn6g

In the first episode of our new Trial Talk series, Hanif Esmail and Conor Tweed take over the microphones to interview Andrew Nunn and Sarah Meredith, who have both recently retired from the Unit, having spent a combined total of 92 years working in the field of tuberculosis (TB).

As we celebrate Andrew and Sarah’s long and accomplished careers, we’ll dive into the history of TB clinical trials and muse on the future of TB research.

For more information and to access the transcript: https://www.mrcctu.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-stories/2024/january/new-podcast-episode-careers-in-tb-clinical-trials/

Check out our earlier podcast episodes about TB trials, also featuring Andrew Nunn:

• https://soundcloud.com/trial-talk-podcast/the-stream2-trial-how-should-we-treat-multi-drug-resistant-tuberculosis?si=013c930cbd184b7a93b64eb7101e57be&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

• https://soundcloud.com/trial-talk-podcast/andrew-nunn-talks-medical-statistics-tb-and-algerian-nomads-part-1?si=6b8c8c2da31a45fba323adbdd97c1f1b&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

• https://soundcloud.com/trial-talk-podcast/andrew-nunn-talks-medical-statistics-tb-and-algerian-nomads-part-2?si=1723fbebd5d746079dddb12a139f0eed&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

For questions or feedback on the series, message us at [email protected]

As a listener, your opinion is very valuable to us. Please help us to improve the podcast in the future by filling in this short survey: forms.office.com/e/PjfjQ5Mn6g

Every year on 1st December, we mark World AIDS Day to show solidarity in the fight against HIV and AIDS, and to remember those who have sadly lost their lives.

Since the start of the global AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, researchers have made enormous progress towards preventing HIV transmission, and treating those who are living with HIV so that the virus remains suppressed. But while there have been marked improvements for adults, treatment coverage in children and adolescents is lagging behind.

In the second of our World AIDS Day episodes, we highlight the important role that young people living with HIV play in research, by shaping clinical trials to better serve the needs of their community.

This episode features Lungile Jafta, who works closely with young people through Penta’s youth engagement programmes, and Gugu, a former Youth Trials Board member from South Africa who is living with HIV.

For more information and to access the transcript: https://www.mrcctu.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-stories/2023/december/trial-talk-podcast-releases-new-episodes-for-world-aids-day/

For questions or feedback on the series, message us at [email protected]

As a listener, your opinion is very valuable to us. Please help us to improve the podcast in the future by filling in this short survey: forms.office.com/e/PjfjQ5Mn6g

Every year on 1st December, we mark World AIDS Day to show solidarity in the fight against HIV and AIDS, and to remember those who have sadly lost their lives.

Since the start of the global AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, researchers have made enormous progress towards preventing HIV transmission, and treating those who are living with HIV so that the virus remains suppressed. But while there have been marked improvements for adults, treatment coverage in children and adolescents is lagging behind.

In the first of our World AIDS Day episodes, Dr Anna Turkova, Clinical Principal Research Fellow at the MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL, and Philippa Musoke, Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health at Makerere University, explore the reasons for these disparities and how the MRC CTU at UCL is working to close the gap between adults and children through clinical trials.

For more information and to access the transcript: https://www.mrcctu.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-stories/2023/december/trial-talk-podcast-releases-new-episodes-for-world-aids-day/

For questions or feedback on the series, message us at [email protected]

As a listener, your opinion is very valuable to us. Please help us to improve the podcast in the future by filling in this short survey: forms.office.com/e/PjfjQ5Mn6g

Octopus is a new clinical trial for people living with progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), which is designed and run by the MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL. Thanks to its multi-arm multi-stage platform design, Octopus has the potential to transform the way treatments for progressive MS are tested. The trial is now open in the UK and will be recruiting participants for the next few years.

The podcast mini-series will explore the trial from different perspectives by talking to neurologists, MS experts and people affected by MS.

In the final part, we explore the role of people affected by MS in the Octopus trial. Susan Scott, a pharmaceutical publications specialist and Octopus patient representative, shares her involvement in the trial and explains how PPI has benefited Octopus so far.

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For more information and to access the transcript: bit.ly/3S6FKP4

For questions or feedback on the series, message us at [email protected]

As a listener, your opinion is very valuable to us. Please help us to improve the podcast in the future by filling in this short survey: forms.office.com/e/PjfjQ5Mn6g

Octopus is a new clinical trial for people living with progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), which is designed and run by the MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL. Thanks to its multi-arm multi-stage platform design, Octopus has the potential to transform the way treatments for progressive MS are tested. The trial is now open in the UK and will be recruiting participants for the next few years.

The podcast mini-series will explore the trial from different perspectives by talking to neurologists, MS experts and people affected by MS.

In Part 3, MS experts Dawn Lyle and Matthew Justin walk us through the journey that trial participants take when taking part in Octopus, from how to register your interest in the trial, to what to expect on your first visit.

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For more information and to access the transcript: bit.ly/3S6FKP4

For questions or feedback on the series, message us at [email protected]

As a listener, your opinion is very valuable to us. Please help us to improve the podcast in the future by filling in this short survey: forms.office.com/e/PjfjQ5Mn6g

Octopus is a new clinical trial for people living with progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), which is designed and run by the MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL. Thanks to its multi-arm multi-stage platform design, Octopus has the potential to transform the way treatments for progressive MS are tested. The trial is now open in the UK and will be recruiting participants for the next few years.

The podcast mini-series will explore the trial from different perspectives by talking to neurologists, MS experts and people affected by MS.

Part 2 of the series explores our Octopus trial in depth. Professor Jeremy Chataway, lead investigator of Octopus, discusses its novel design, the treatments it will test, and the criteria for people to take part. He also explains the data researchers will collect and analyse to find out if a treatment is working.

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For more information and to access the transcript: bit.ly/3S6FKP4

For questions or feedback on the series, message us at [email protected]

As a listener, your opinion is very valuable to us. Please help us to improve the podcast in the future by filling in this short survey: forms.office.com/e/PjfjQ5Mn6g

Octopus is a new clinical trial for people living with progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), which is designed and run by the MRC CTU at UCL. Thanks to its multi-arm multi-stage platform design, Octopus has the potential to transform the way treatments for progressive MS are tested. The trial is now open in the UK and will be recruiting participants for the next few years.

The podcast mini-series will explore the trial from different perspectives by talking to neurologists, MS experts and people affected by MS.

Part 1 covers the treatment and research landscape of MS and the challenges of treating progressive MS. It features Jeremy Chataway, neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery at UCLH, Professor of Neurology at UCL and co-lead of the Neurodegenerative Diseases progamme at the MRC CTU at UCL, who is leading the Octopus trial. We also hear from Dawn Lyle, Lead Research MS Nurse, and Matthew Justin, MS Specialist, who are based at the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurologic Clinic in Edinburgh.

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For more information and to access the transcript: https://bit.ly/3S6FKP4

For questions or feedback on the series, message us at [email protected]

As a listener, your opinion is very valuable to us. Please help us to improve the podcast in the future by filling in this short survey: forms.office.com/e/PjfjQ5Mn6g

Innovative platform designs present an opportunity to run faster and more efficient clinical trials.

Clinical trials methodology is a research area that looks at how to improve the design, conduct, and analysis of clinical trials. It focuses on developing and implementing new methods to help run trials faster and more efficiently, that will ultimately accelerate the discovery of new treatments.

In this episode, methodologist Matteo Quartagno tells us about a new clinical trial design called MAMS-ROCI. It is a type of multi-arm multi-stage design that compares a range of different treatment durations, dose or frequencies to identify the optimal one.

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For questions or feedback on the series, message us at [email protected]

For more information and to access the transcript: https://bit.ly/3ZpyKhG

As a listener, your opinion is very valuable to us. Please help us to improve the podcast in the future by filling in this short survey: forms.office.com/e/PjfjQ5Mn6g

STAMPEDE is a long-running trial in advanced prostate cancer, in which nearly 12,000 men have taken part. Thanks to its multi-arm multi-stage platform design, STAMPEDE has tested many different treatments and directly led to improvements in the standard of prostate cancer care several times.

This Trial Talk podcast mini-series will explore the trial’s journey from its inception in the early 2000s to the end of patient recruitment in March 2023.

In the final part, Max Parmar and Nick James look back over the trial’s impact on clinical practice and platform trial design and look forward to STAMPEDE2, sharing their hopes for the future of prostate cancer research.

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Further information is available on the STAMPEDE study page at www.mrcctu.ucl.ac.uk

For questions or feedback on the series, message us at [email protected]

For more information and to access the transcript: bit.ly/3OQWhV8

As a listener, your opinion is very valuable to us. Please help us to improve the podcast in future by filling in this short survey: forms.office.com/e/PjfjQ5Mn6g