What is "dahanca"

The Danish Head and Neck Cancer Group (DAHANCA) is a permanent working group operating under the authority of the Danish Society for Head and Neck Oncology. It operates an ongoing series of clinical studies regarding head and neck cancers.

DAHANCA receives pharmaceutical industry sponsorship in order to conduct these trials, but it is an independent body, and industry bodies do not have the ability to exert their influence to suppress negative results.

The most recent study was DAHANCA 10 in 2007. DAHANCA 10 was a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study on darbepoetin-α (Aranesp, Amgen). The data-monitoring committee recommended early termination of this trial as results were suggesting outcomes were more favourable in the control-group compared to patients receiving the drug.

DAHANCA 5 and DAHANCA 6/7 were other notable studies conducted by the group.