Mel Mann and the Continued Clinical Trials Revolution | Read now

When 37-year-old U.S. Army Major Mel Mann began experiencing severe back pain while living in Michigan with his wife and young daughter in 1995, he never imagined the diagnosis: Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML). The news was devastating. Mel was highly active and physically fit, yet it seemed his only chance of surviving this rare form of cancer beyond three years was a bone marrow transplant.

It would be a serious uphill battle. Finding a perfect donor match is already difficult, but as an African American, Mel was at a severe disadvantage. Ethnicity plays a critical role in bone marrow compatibility, and Black donors make up only a small percentage of the national registry.

Mel’s determination soon took hold, and nothing would stop him. Now living in Atlanta, he got to work organizing bone marrow drives across the country, registering thousands of new donors in the process. Yet despite his efforts, Mel never found a match. He was at the end of his rope—it was 1998, three years after his diagnosis.?

But that was when Mel learned about a phase 1 clinical trial at MD Anderson Cancer Center for an investigative drug called Gleevec. It was the best news Mel could hope for, but participating in a clinical trial presented him with a whole new set of challenges.

“I had to move to Houston for four months while my family stayed in Atlanta,” Mel recalled. “I spent around $20,000 to participate over the four years. Much of this was for hotel, air travel, 12 hours drives, and meals, for my family and I. Sometimes it seemed like an inefficient use of my time and resources —traveling all that way for some tests that I could take at home and to see a doctor for 15-30 minutes.”

Despite these hardships, Mel persevered and Gleevec worked. Less than a year after he began participating in the trial, Mel ran the Midnight Sun Marathon in Anchorage Alaska! Today, more than a quarter century later, Mel is the world’s longest living Gleevec survivor, and was the very first patient to respond to Gleevec. This drug has revolutionized cancer treatment, helping hundreds of thousands of people since it was approved by the FDA in 2001.?

That clinical trial saved Mel’s life. And today, he’s looking to pay it forward and do what he can to bring the life-changing—and often life-saving—advances of clinical research to as many people who need it as possible.?

Mel’s mission now is to be an advocate for patients and a voice for the continued advancement of clinical trials. As a member of Medable’s Patient Caregiver Network (PCN), the industry’s first, largest, and most diverse patient advocacy ecosystem, he’s able to move this mission forward in a big way. Medable’s PCN includes a network of over 1,600 patients across eight countries who have participated in decentralized or hybrid clinical trials, activating their diverse experiences to inform the company’s innovations and continuously improve how trials are conducted.

Technology-driven clinical trials—like those enabled by Medable—are breaking down barriers in important ways. And for people like Mel who have experienced a life-saving-yet-arduous traditional clinical trial, he’s clear-eyed about what technology can offer for current and future patients.

Here’s Mel’s take:

• Accessibility: “Transportation can be expensive. If you cut that part out and offer telehealth options, you’re making trials available for everyone.”
• Flexibility: “If you can do things online or send equipment to monitor vitals remotely, then you’re saving time and money. People can engage outside real-time hours, which opens opportunities to more participants.”
• Convenience: “If the drugs are shipped to the patient and compliance can be tracked remotely, it’s a game changer.”

There’s little question that technology has made clinical trials more inclusive, efficient, and affordable. And Mel understands first-hand technology’s real-world implications. “Now, instead of traveling across the country, you can go 10 minutes down the road, get your blood drawn, and have the results sent to your doctor,” he said. “Telehealth and decentralized trials mean people don’t have to uproot their lives. It saves everyone—patients, researchers, and healthcare systems—so much time and money.”

Mel’s story is a powerful reminder of the potential of clinical research and the impact that trials make on people’s lives, especially for cancer patients and patients with no other options. Now, thanks to innovations like decentralized trial platforms and telehealth, more patients can participate without having to make the kinds of financial and emotional sacrifices that Mel made.

“Clinical trials have improved in stages, but today we’re in a really good stage,” Mel explained. “Trials are easier, more flexible, and more promising than ever before.”

Mel’s remarkable journey from hope to survival would not have been possible without his own dogged determination and the existence of a clinical trial. His experience—and his message to people today—are clear: Let’s do everything we can to make clinical trials available to everyone who needs them. “When people ask me about clinical trials,” Mel concluded, “I tell them ‘You don’t have to do what I did all those years ago. There are technologies now where you can do what you need to do at home. The clinical trial doesn’t have to take you away from your everyday life and your family. Technology has changed everything. And if a clinical trial is your best option, distance or cost shouldn’t get in the way. The tools are there to make it work for everyone.”

Medable and its award-winning PCN salute courageous patients like Mel every day and especially during National Cancer Prevention Month. For more information about being part of Medable’s PCN, contact Jena Daniels at [email protected].