The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Nine medical institutes to coordinate cancer research

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Nine medical institutes to coordinate cancer research

Shyama Rajagopal

HN-CooG will promote multi-centre clinical trials

KOCHI: Nine major medical institutes in the country have formed a cooperative group to coordinate research in head and neck cancers.

The members of the group called the HN-CooG, under the umbrella of the Foundation for Head and Neck Oncology (FHNO), are the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi; Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai; the Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bangalore; the Regional Cancer Centre, Thiruvananthapuram; the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi; Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Centre at Narayana Hrudayalaya, Bangalore; the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Science, Lucknow; Kasturba Medical College, Manipal; and Dr. B. Barooah Cancer Institute, Guwahati.

The aim of the group is to promote multi-centre clinical trials and basic sciences with support from the Department of Biotechnology and the Indian Council of Medical Research.

The research will be institution-based but on a national level since regional differences in disease manifestations and prevalence need to be considered, says Subramania Iyer, president of FHNO and one of the two coordinators of the group. Dr. Iyer says western countries have such cooperative groups because of which they have been able to make some landmark studies.

The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer and the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group funded by the National Cancer Institute in the U.S. are two such groups that have done major research in cancer. The HN-CooG will start functioning by December. The group is likely to have some good analytical data in about five years. Nearly 10 projects were proposed on the occasion of National Research Day on Monday at the Amrita institute, the merits of which will be judged by the Department of Biotechnology and the ICMR.

Among the research papers presented during the National Research Day, six were from various works taken up in India. Papers were presented on two types of research work — clinical research that has a direct impact on the patient and basic sciences that involve various experts in fields such as genetics, biotechnology, cytology, microbiology and pharmacology.

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