By The Associated Press

FAIRWAY -- Kansas University Medical Center officially opened a new clinical research center in Fairway on Tuesday that it hopes will one day be among the top in the country, hosting 25 to 30 Phase 1 cancer drug and treatment trials at a time.

The Clinical Research Center actually began accepting patients last week and already is conducting about 10 Phase 1 trials, and Tuesday's opening was for VIPs, The Kansas City Star reports.

Patients at the $19 million center will be examined by doctors and nurses, have blood drawn and undergo tests, and receive drugs and other therapies.

"We'll be able to accelerate things by having a facility and culture dedicated to doing one thing," said Raymond Perez, the center's medical director. "We will get people thinking, talking, breathing Phase 1 research."

Phase 1 clinical trials typically are done on small groups of patients to determine how a drug is metabolized, what side effects it causes and whether it has the intended effects. Later-stage trials determine how beneficial a drug may be.

Many of the trials at the Kansas center will be for cancer drugs. But several trials involve Alzheimer's disease. Additional trials will look at therapies for multiple sclerosis, diabetes, liver disease and other conditions.

The University of Kansas in Lawrence has a nationally recognized program to create new drugs and find new uses for existing medications. Efforts to test new drugs at the previous University of Kansas Medical Center's Cancer Center were hindered by limited facilities, requiring some new Kansas drugs to be sent elsewhere for study.

"The center will give us the opportunity to use that expertise to benefit Kansas," Perez said.

The Clinical Research Center is in a building donated by the Hall Family Foundation. The building's $19 million renovation is funded with sales tax revenue from a one-eighth-cent sales tax approved by Johnson County residents in 2008. The tax raises about $15 million per year to help pay for the development of new research and educational facilities.

The Kansas State University's International Animal Health and Food Safety Institute in Olathe opened in April. A third facility, the Business, Engineering, Science and Technology Building on Kansas' Edwards campus is set to open March 2.