Oncology Focus: Expert Profile
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Ask the Expert – Professor Seamus O’Reilly Professor Seamus O'Reilly, Clinical Cancer Trials Ireland
over 3,900 patients have been enrolled in cancer clinical trials in our unit. It allows patients access to the latest available treatments, creates an environment of inquiry, of standards in a unit and it also accelerates innovation in a unit as we are bringing in newer treatments, and newer platform agents, years before they would come into place if we waited until they are approved by the regulatory bodies and then reimbursed by the government.
Prof Seamus O’Reilly BSc MD PhD FRCPI is Consultant Medical Oncologist at Cork-Mercy and South Infirmary Victoria University Hospitals, Clinical Lead at Cancer Trials Ireland, and Clinical Professor at University College Cork. A graduate of University College Galway (BSc, MB BCh BAO, MD) he completed basic specialist training at Trinity College Dublin affiliated hospitals and medical oncology training at John Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD where he was subsequently Assistant Professor in Medical Oncology. During fellowship training there he completed a PhD in Clinical Investigation and focused on Cancer Pharmacology in his research. He is a founding trustee of the South Eastern Cancer Foundation and Cork ARC Cancer Support House and was National Specialty Director in Medical Oncology at the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland from 2013-2021 mentoring projects on litigation in breast cancer, climate change, rare tumor management, survivorship, pharmaco-economics, dental oncology, cyber security and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare staff and patients. At Cancer Trials Ireland he founded the National Green Cancer Clinical Trials Initiative in 2022, and is a member of the Executive Board of the Breast
International Group (2021-5), The National Research Ethics Committee, Advisory Board of the National Cancer Registry, Irish Health Research Forum Steering Group, the steering committee of the All Ireland Cancer Research Institute, and The European Society of Medical Oncology Climate Change Taskforce, and Oncology Pro Group. He is deputy editor of British Journal of Cancer Reports. His main research focus are clinical trials in breast cancer, sustainability in healthcare, and survivorship. We recently spoke with him to learn more about the work of this vital organisation, and to hear about his recent talk at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress at the end of last year. Cancer Care and Cancer Research Giving us a brief overview of his career path to date, Professor O’Reilly told Hospital Professional News, “ I have been involved in clinical trials since my training days, having established a clinical trials unit in Waterford and a clinical trials unit in Cork. Thus, the length of time I have been completing cancer research is the same as my cancer care work. “We are very committed to cancer care in Cork; our unit had its 20th anniversary last year and
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“This allows people to access care at an earlier stage. Where clinical trials are embedded into cancer care, the outcomes for patients are better, and that's a hugely important thing.” Professor O’Reilly notes that currently, oncology is at an ‘exciting stage’ within Ireland, with many new agents in the pipeline. He continues, “There is a drug class called anti-body drug conjugates and there are 160 of these in development globally at present. It is unclear which one of them is going to be the next transformative treatment. But it offers hope for patients where the standard treatment isn’t as good as it could be, or patients have side effects from treatment or the treatment simply does not exist. So creating an environment in our hospitals where patients have access to this innovation is of great significance. “With Cancer Trials Ireland we have four main themes - for the next four years. The first one is streamlining. In order for patients to get access to these newer treatments, we need to be efficient in what we do and how we do things. We are competing with other countries. For instance, in Latin America, there are 22 cities with populations of over a million people. So if a company tries to set up a trial there, they have huge access to a very diverse patient grouping to establish infrastructure. When we are being looked at as an environment to
do trials, we need to be aware of the companies of choice, and the investigators of choice, in regards to where the drugs are. “Streamlining our trials in terms of getting the regulator aspects and processes quicker is really important.” The government has recognized and established a National Research Ethics Committee. And Professor O’Reilly sits on one of the committees of that. He explains that this is where clinical trials are reviewed. “Historically,” he adds, “they were reviewed by various ethics committees around the country. But now there's one major ethics committee. That allows economies of scale and expertise and also transparency in terms of efficiency. It is an incredibly wellrun organisation but there are also issues such as data protection that are involved in a clinical trial activation and there are insurance issues etc. “Much like other enterprises, you're only as good as your weakest link and you're only as fast as your slowest part. A major aspect of my role is to look at how we can get these things done more quickly by getting involved, looking at the stakeholders involved, and engaging with all of them. “The second aspect is getting more studies into Ireland. The 160 drugs that we talked about and getting patients access to those studies is a key thing for many people in our organisation and for other investigators in our organisation. There are international meetings taking place all the time; we go to those meetings and interact with the companies that are making these drugs and with the international co-operative groups that are involved in the trials, to highlight Ireland's infrastructure and development, the intellectual capital that is here, and the patients here that would benefit from it. “The third thing is succession. In any organisation we need to nurture the next generation. We have more oncologists now in Cork and we're interviewing for our
