Patients receive promising - but not yet fully studied - cancer therapies when no other treatment option exists. This is an unmet need in the Northwest as the effort, time, and expense preclude even the most advanced health care systems from implementing these trials. The South Sound CARE Foundation's Research Coordinators pursue individualized trials which they coordinate with treating providers, pharmaceutical companies and the FDA to provide life-extending options to those who have exhausted traditional treatment regimens.

In 2022, more than $1.13 million worth of off-label/Compassionate Use medication was acquired through CARE and administered to local patients.

Understanding cancer at a molecular level can lead to better treatment options. The evolution of targeted therapies helps treating physicians by providing a blue print of what makes up cancer cells. Through a partnership with Caris Life Sciences, CARE patients receive the benefit of a nationwide tumor board of experts weighing in on their treatment and identifying therapies which may not have been previously considered. Recommendations are provided to treating physicians, helping match cancer biomarkers to a specific treatment - increasing the probability of a positive outcome.

Physician researchers often identify new ways of using existing treatments. CARE is currently involved with such studies in Triple Negative Breast Cancer, Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Myelodysplastic Syndrome.

The dedicated Cancer Research Coordinator funded by CARE through our partnership with MultiCare Institute for Research and Innovation (MIRI) has allowed the MultiCare research team to accept more industry trials and increase enrollment, since the onset more than 231 new patients have been enrolled and our Coordinator currently oversees 13 trials.