Telehealth tech is bringing Ohio State’s world-class pancreatic cancer clinical care to patients across the country. Clinical research is the key to developing new cancer treatments, but because of geographic limitations trials are typically available only to patients who live near a participating hospital, or thos who can afford the significant expense of traveling to one. Researchers like those at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center — James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute often work with colleagues at other leading institutions to conduct joint trials, but most patients in the U.S. are still unable to participate because of travel and cost barriers. “It's too costly to open hundreds of clinical trial sites in clinics across the U.S.,” says Sameek Roychowdhury, MD, PhD, a member of the OSUCCC – James’ Translational Therapeutics Program. Click here to learn more about pancreatic cancer, including risks, symptoms and treatment options at The Ohio State University. For some pancreatic cancer patients who qualify for an ongoing Ohio State clinical trial, though, location does not have to prevent participation, through a combination of telehealth technology and medication shipments. “This is a clinical trial to offer a novel therapy for patients who have metastatic pancreas cancer. We can interact with them on video calls and deliver therapy by mail,” Roychowdhury says. “From one site at Ohio State, we can reach all of these patients with minimal cost and provide convenience and access.” While undergoing telehealth visits with Ohio State specialists, patients will receive cutting-edge care via “smart drugs” that target specific genes. “Most smart drugs that we offer for cancer treatment today are pills, which is convenient and also very practical for a telehealth-enabled clinical trial,” Roychowdhury says. The trial is representative of the growing utilization of telehealth to conduct clinical research, which became necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic, but has since proven to provide wide-ranging benefits for patients. “This could be life-saving and life-prolonging, and it's a game changer for cancer clinical research,” Roychowdhury says. “Some patients with rare cancers that we might not otherwise be able to develop drugs for — we can do this with telehealth.” Click here to learn more about cancer clinical research at the OSUCCC – James, including trials currently open to patients.