New Initiative Hopes To Bring Clinical Trials to Breast Cancer Patients in Barbados

Women in Barbados are more likely to face an aggressive form of breast cancer known as triple-negative breast cancer. 

A 2020 study published in Cancer found triple-negative breast cancer accounted for 25% of cases studied in Barbados. That is about 2.5 times the rate among non-Hispanic white women in the United States. 

Moffitt Cancer Center is working with healthcare leaders in Barbados on an initiative to expand breast cancer education, research and access to clinical trials. 

“The idea was to do something where we had an expertise, and they have a problem we can help address,” said Brian Czerniecki, MD, PhD, chair of Moffitt’s Breast Oncology Department.  

Building a Partnership 

The initiative began taking shape earlier this year after Czerniecki learned more about breast cancer outcomes in Barbados. 

Brian Czerniecki, MD, PhD

Czerniecki connected with representatives from Barbados and physicians at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the country’s main public hospital. The conversations quickly turned to how Moffitt could help. 

The team submitted a grant to the V Foundation to support a yearlong pilot program. If funded, the initiative would include breast cancer education for physicians and the public, training between Moffitt and providers in Barbados and work to determine how patients there could potentially participate in Moffitt clinical trials. 

“We’re going to bring one of the doctors here to see how it’s done,” Czerniecki said. “We are also going to provide training for them on the island.” 

Moffitt physicians and fellows would also travel to Barbados to participate in breast cancer education programs, with a focus on triple-negative breast cancer. 

“This is really a combination of outreach, clinical trial expansion and biology,” Czerniecki said.  

Expanding Access to Research  

Czerniecki and his team recently submitted a separate grant to the Department of Defense that could take the partnership a step further.  

If funded, the grant could include patients in Barbados in Moffitt-led research studying an immunotherapy approach for triple-negative breast cancer. 

A small number of patients from Barbados could travel to Moffitt as researchers work through logistics. The long-term goal is to make it possible for patients to receive treatment back home.  

“They wouldn’t have to come here,” Czerniecki said. “We would manufacture it and send it back to them.” 

The collaboration could also allow researchers to better understand triple-negative breast cancer in women of African ancestry, a patient population that has not been well represented in previous research. 

“With the biopsies that are built in, we could see if there are differences in the tumors and the immune response,” Czerniecki said. 

Researchers could also compare how patients in Barbados respond to treatment with patients treated at Moffitt. 

“If this works, it would help reduce their breast cancer mortality rate,” Czerniecki said. 

A Model for Other Countries 

While the Barbados initiative is still in its early stages, Czerniecki sees the potential for something bigger. 

If successful, the collaboration could serve as a model for partnerships elsewhere in the Caribbean and other parts of the world where access to specialized cancer care and clinical trials may be limited. 

“Being so close to our backyard, I can’t help but think we should be doing this for most of the Caribbean islands,” Czerniecki said. 

He is already exploring another possible collaboration with physicians in Ukraine. These efforts show a broader role Moffitt can play as a comprehensive cancer center. 

“I think it’s good to get people out of Florida and Tampa,” he said. “What kind of problems can we tackle?” 

And Barbados could be the first step. 

“Hopefully we can do this as a model to accomplish the same thing in other places in the world where they don’t have the same resources,” Czerniecki said.