Dr. Robert F. Vizza Lustgarten Clinical Accelerator Initiative (CAI)

The Clinical Accelerator Initiative (CAI) serves to advance the translation of basic science research into the clinic. Using a Lustgarten-developed process, based on real-time peer-review feedback, it also serves to produce highly collaborative clinical trials with innovative, science-driven, efficient designs. Trials funded through the CAI place a deep focus on translational analysis in order to rapidly further our understanding of disease biology and treatment mechanisms. These “smarter” clinical trials generate large volumes of data helping scientists inform and improve current and future clinical trials, expediting the path forward. In support of this, all data from CAI trials will also be integrated into Lustgarten’s United Clinical Information Database (LUCID), improving the data’s collective potential while making it accessible to the broader research community.

CAI studies are typically small, enrolling 10-20 patients, in order to support deep translational analysis of each patient to extract the most information possible. For information on how to apply to the CAI, please check our Current Funding Opportunities.

Studies include:

• A Window-of-Opportunity Trial Using Neoadjuvant Hepatic Artery Chemotherapy for Patients With Localized Pancreas Cancer
  • Principal Investigator: Pete Allen, MD, Duke University School of Medicine
  • Award Budget Total: $1,368,231

• Combinatorial myeloid activation as immuotherapy for metastatic pancreatic cancer
  • Principal Investigator: Gregory Beatty, MD, PhD, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
  • Award Budget Total: $2,000,000

• A pilot study comparing neoadjuvant and adjuvant GVAX vs a mutated KRAS peptide vaccine given with anti-PD-1 and anti-CD137 agonist for the treatment of surgically resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma
  • Principal Investigator: Eric Christenson, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
  • Award Budget Total: $1,507,497

• NC410 and FOLFIRINOX in Combination with Anti-PD-1 with and without Anti-CTLA-4 for Treatment Naive Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer
  • Principal Investigator: Dung Le, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
  • Award Budget Total: $1,865,864

• Syk-Targeted Therapy with Fostamatinib: A Promising Avenue to Enhance Chemotherapy Response in Pancreatic Cancer
  • Principal Investigator: Andrew Lowy, MD, Moores Cancer Center, UC San Diego
  • Award Budget Total: $1,277,531

• Testing and Understanding Anti-CTLA4 Plus PARP Inhibitor Maintenance Therapy in Patients with Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer Who Have Achieved Stable Disease on FOLFIRINOX
  • Principal Investigator: Kim Reiss Binder, MD, Penn Medicine
  • Award Budget Total: $1,999,998.99

• A Pilot Study of Neoadjuvant mFOLFIRINOX and ELI-002 7P with or without Anti-PD-1 Checkpoint Blockade in Borderline and Resectable Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma
  • Principal Investigator: Kevin Soares, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
  • Award Budget Total: $1,926,454

• Targeting myeloperoxidase to enhance chemotherapy response in pancreatic adenocarcinoma
  • Principal Investigator: Brian Boone, MD, West Virginia University
  • Award Budget Total: $1,904,606
• Evaluation of the Mechanism and Efficacy of IL-15 superagonist-based neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer
  • Principal Investigator: Dafna Bar-Sagi, PhD, NYU Langone Health
  • March 1, 2023-February 28, 2026
  • Award Budget Total: $1,977,282

• Phase Ib/II, open-label, multicenter, randomized study evaluating the safety and efficacy of ‘switch maintenance’ combination immunotherapy using TIGIT/PD-1 co-blockade + CD40 agonism in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer
  • Principal Investigator: James Cleary, MD, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
  • Award Budget Total: $1,494,315

• A Phase II Study Of FOLFIRINOX Combined With The GSK-3 ß Inhibitor 9-ING-41 and The TGF-ß Inhibitor Losartan In Patients With Untreated Metastatic Adenocarcinoma. 
  • Principal Investigator: Colin D. Weekes, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital
  • Award Budget Total: $1,500,000

• Targeting the Immunosuppressive Tumor Microenvironment of Pancreatic Cancer with a Neoadjuvant Platform Clinical Trial 
  • Principal Investigator: Lei Zheng, MD, PhD, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University
  • Award Budget Total: $1,694,315