No Emus vs Knox rugby due to coronavirus but funds made to Orange cancer trial

For the past two years, Brothers IV Brothers founders Bryn, Jason and Scott Robertson have brought a team from the Knox Old Boys Rugby Union Football Club to compete against the Orange Emus Legends for the cup in memory of their brother Lachlan who died of oesophageal cancer in 2013, and Tim Cussell, who died of bowel cancer.

The event also managed to raise at least $70,000 for cancer services in Orange that were divided between Western Care Lodge and clinical cancer trials at Orange hospital.

Clinical Trials Unit director and medical oncologist Dr Rob Zielinski said about $35,000 of the money raised in 2018 and 2019 went to the unit for its trials and the third game was supposed to be played in July.

"This was going to be the third and final test," Dr Zielinski said.

However, he said there were whispers of hosting the test next year instead, and even without the Orange match taking place, Brothers IV Brothers has donated $7500 to the unit this year.

"That's from a bunch of guys that had no prior contact to the Orange community," he said.

Dr Zielinski said there are currently 12 trials under recruitment at the unit including two for lung cancer, two for head and neck skin cancer, two for prostate cancer, one for breast cancer, two for blood-related cancers and bowel cancer.

He said the unit is one of the top three recruiters world-wide for colorectal cancer trials.

Another trial includes genomic testing, which Dr Zielinski said many people being treated for cancer would otherwise miss out on due to the cost but by taking part in the trial they could find out if their cancer was something that could be inherited by their children.

"One of the trials we are running is using a drug that used to kill people because we didn't know how to dose it properly," Dr Zielinski said.

He said to receive that drug in the past people had to be super fit, and aged in their 30s 40s and 50s, and be in the Intensive Care Unit.

However, he said now 20 years later, scientists have learned how to attach molecules so the drug becomes active when it reaches the cancer, instead of in the blood stream.

He said that drug il-2 is used as part of therapy for kidney cancer and he currently has two patients using the drug in the trial.

"In the old days they would have been in ICU," Dr Zielinski said.

There is also a cannabis trial for symptom management for chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting.

He said of the funding for the unit most comes from pharmaceutical companies, which covers staffing, blood tests and scans.

"Their main objective is to get [their drug] through the trial to get it to market is a successful drug," Dr Zielinski said.

However, he said there was also nation-wide need for clinical cancer trials to be included in government and hospital base-line funding.

"They are not really covering much of the cost, that's across the country" Dr Zielinski said.

He said the unit is also going through an approval processes to conduct a clinical therapy trial for COVID-19 using the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, as well an old HIV drug. However, he also said the number of people who have tested positive to COVID-19 in Orange was low.

When it comes to cancer trials, Dr Zielinski said the hospital is continuing to recruit participants and there was no drug shortage, however face-to-face interactions and physical contact have been cut back for the safety of staff and patients.