But discovering a cellular target in the lab and helping people to benefit from the discovery requires a long series of steps. Dr. Rixe excels at those steps. He recently joined the UNM Cancer Center as the Associate Director for Clinical Research. He will help develop the early phase clinical trials and the neuro-oncology programs.
Equally comfortable in the lab and in the clinic, Dr. Rixe’s face lights up as he talks about how he brings the discoveries of basic science to his patients. “Sometimes, patients become resistant to the standard therapies,” he explains. “So we have to identify for those patients new strategies. Those new strategies are being tested on those patients and, by definition, they are the first 20, 30 or 40 pioneers to explore a new avenue.”
Every new drug needs to have its first patients. Those first patients face the risk of unforeseen side effects or of the drug not working as predicted. But they may also get a cancer-curing drug 10 to 15 years before it’s publicly available. Dr. Rixe wants to give that possibility to all New Mexicans.
Although the number of clinical trials nationwide has leapt since 2005, Dr. Rixe says that the United States has few early phase clinical trials programs. Early phase clinical trials test not only whether a new drug works but also, for the first time, its dose and toxicity in humans. “Unfortunately, patients have to travel to get access to new developments and new therapeutics,” he says. “So, we want our population in New Mexico to have access to these innovative, new therapeutics.”
All clinical trials must adhere to very strict guidelines. They must meet exacting research standards and clinical standards while delivering the best care possible. Meeting such standards requires a team structure in which scientists, nurses and doctors can work very closely together. “Sometimes you need to know more about a treatment,” Dr. Rixe says. “So then you need to go back to the lab because you need additional information from the cancer cell and its microenvironment to identify a factor that can predict drug activity.” One of Dr. Rixe’s roles will be to develop a clinical trial structure at UNM Cancer Center that focuses on early-phase cancer clinical trials.
Dr. Rixe also has a strong interest in neuro-oncology. He completed much of his early career at Pitié-Salpêtrière in downtown Paris, one of the oldest and largest hospitals in Europe and the birthplace of neurology. “I was exposed very early in my training to neurology before my long training in oncology,” he says. “There’s an historical legacy there.” Dr. Rixe will join the outstanding neuro-oncology team, a joint effort between the UNM School of Medicine Department of Neurosurgery and the UNM Cancer Center.
But Dr. Rixe’s strength and passion lies in bringing new drugs to FDA approval. “I was one of the first to treat patients with new treatments that are now used worldwide. We had no clue at the time if it could have any impact,” he says now. “And, then you discover that five to 10 years later those drugs are used everywhere in the world.” Among the drugs Dr. Rixe has helped bring to standard therapy are oxaliplatin, a colon cancer drug, and axitinib, a drug that treats kidney cancers. “Being a pioneer in testing new hypotheses and trying to move as fast as we can to improve, in the end, patient care is what drives me everyday in the context of a wider comprehensive and integrative healing strategy.”
About Olivier Rixe, MD, PhDOlivier Rixe, MD, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. He serves as the Associate Director for Clinical Research at the UNM Cancer Center. Trained as a medical oncologist, Dr. Rixe is internationally renowned for his work in Phase I clinical trials and as Principal Investigator for several neuro-oncology clinical trials. He was involved in the early development phases of many U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved agents, including oxaliplatin, camptothecins, and taxanes; and many targeted therapies including antiangiogenic compounds sunitinib, axitinib and VEGF-trap.
About the UNM Cancer CenterThe UNM Cancer Center is the Official Cancer Center of New Mexico and the only National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center in the state. One of just 68 premier NCI-Designated Cancer Centers nationwide, the UNM Cancer Center is recognized for its scientific excellence, contributions to cancer research, the delivery of high quality, state of the art cancer diagnosis and treatment to all New Mexicans, and its community outreach programs statewide. Annual federal and private funding of over $77 million supports the UNM Cancer Center’s research programs. The UNM Cancer Center treats more than 60 percent of the adults and virtually all of the children in New Mexico affected by cancer, from every county in the state. It is home to New Mexico’s largest team of board-certified oncology physicians and research scientists, representing every cancer specialty and hailing from prestigious institutions such as M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University, and the Mayo Clinic. Through its partnership with Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces, the UNM Cancer Center brings world-class cancer care to the southern part of the state; its collaborative clinical programs in Santa Fe and Farmington serve northern New Mexico and it is developing new collaborative programs in Alamogordo and in Roswell/Carlsbad. The UNM Cancer Center also supports several community outreach programs to make cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment available to every New Mexican. Learn more at www.cancer.unm.edu.
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