COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Some patients with pancreatic cancer will soon be able to try a new therapy through a clinical trial. The best part is that it can be done from the comfort of a patient’s home, no matter where they live in the country.

Telehealth visits became popular during the pandemic when doctors couldn’t see their patients in person and that technology will be used in this clinical trial. Dr. Sameek Roychowdhury is a medical oncologist at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and he has been working on this trial medicine for years. He is now ready for patients with a rare type of pancreatic cancer.

“These patients have a gene mutation in their cancer, not something they were born with, that makes them susceptible or receptive to a smart drug,” Roychowdhury said.

The whole trial will use telehealth visits so patients from all over the U.S. can participate without having to travel, which can be inconvenient and costly.

“Most people have to travel more than 30 minutes, they have to go to a bigger city, they have to find a place to park, they have to navigate the buildings and they have to make multiple visits. So all of these are barriers,” Roychowdhury said.

For this clinical trial, patients will get their bloodwork and exams done at a medical center in their area. Then doctors from OSU will meet with the patients via telehealth and the cancer therapy pills will be shipped right to their home.

“We think we can do this safely so it’s a good place to start for telemedicine clinical oncology trials where we know it’s likely to help patients, we know the side effects and we know how to manage it,” Roychowdhury said.

The doctor hopes that the impact of this telehealth clinical trial is two-fold: affecting pancreas cancer research and showing the convenience of telehealth visits.

“I think we can impact the larger field of clinical research not only in cancer, but in other fields as well to bring access to patients who might not be able to get access,” Roychowdhury said.

The trial is expected to begin in the fall of 2023. To learn more about the study, Dr. Roychowdhury encouraged anyone to reach out to him via email at Sameek.Roychowdhury@osumc.edu. He added that he can provide more information about different pancreatic cancer treatments, and patients could even be put on the waitlist for the trial if they meet the criteria.