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:

• 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

• A Phase 2 Trial of FOLFIRINOX plus Eganelisib in Patients with Borderline Resectable Pancreatic Cancer
  • Principal Investigator: Andrew Lowy, MD, FACS, UC San Diego Health Moores Cancer Center
  • Award Budget Total: $1,317,161
  • March 1, 2023-February 28, 2025

• 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
  • August 1, 2022-July 31, 2025

• Targeting the Myeloid-stromal Compartment to Enhance Vaccine Induced T Cell Responses 
  • Principal Investigator: Dung Thi Le, MD, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins Medical Institution
  • Award Budget Total: $1,865,182
  • June 1, 2021-May 30, 2025

• 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
  • November 1, 2021-October 31, 2024

• 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
  • June 1, 2021-May 31, 2024