"Okay, you've got the big C. Cancer. A word that changes your life the moment you hear it."

So opens a new ad campaign launched by UC Davis Cancer Center researchers to solve a major roadblock in the development of new cancer treatments: low participation rates in clinical trials. It's one of the first ad campaigns of its kind, coordinators say.

"We hope the "big C" ad campaign will play a big part in accelerating the pace of clinical trials research nationally, so that effective new treatments can reach cancer patients much sooner," said Primo Lara Jr., associate professor of medicine at the cancer center.

Lara last year won a grant from the National Cancer Institute and five major pharmaceutical companies to test whether an ad campaign can make a difference. The UC Davis Health System helped to underwrite the cost of the ad campaign.

Nationwide, only 3 percent of adult cancer patients participates in clinical trials, the scientific studies that determine whether a new treatment is safe and effective. Even at major academic cancer centers, the adult participation rate is only about 14 percent. Low participation rates prolong drug development, which, from laboratory to pharmacy shelf, takes 12 to 15 years on average and costs about $800 million.

The last phase of the process -- evaluating the drug in human patients -- can't take place without clinical trial volunteers.

At UC Davis Cancer Center, about 16 percent of adult cancer patients enroll in clinical trials. Lara hopes to double that rate.

"Big C" ads will air for 12 weeks on local television and radio stations and will appear in newspapers throughout Greater Sacramento. If the campaign proves successful during its test in Sacramento, the National Cancer Institute could take it national.

Surveys of public awareness of cancer clinical trials and the California clinical trials law were conducted in late 2003 and early 2004. The survey will be repeated in July, after the campaign ends. Before-and-after surveys in San Diego County, beyond the reach of the ads, are also part of the study.

The ad campaign and Lara's research are funded by the National Cancer Institute in partnership with Aventis, Bristol-Meyers-Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly and Novartis Pharmaceuticals.

Researchers at five other cancer centers -- Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard University, the University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center -- also received grants to test practical approaches to increase participation in clinical trials.