NCI CTEP-Approved Trials for the Month of April
Researchers at UC Davis have shown that radiation therapy following surgery benefits older patients more than younger patients when treating soft tissue sarcomas.
A five-year study showed that stereotactic body radiation therapy to treat prostate cancer offers a higher cure rate than more traditional approaches, according to researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Overall survival data from CheckMate-069, a phase II trial of a Opdivo and Yervoy combination regimen in patients with previously untreated advanced melanoma, demonstrated a two-year overall survival rate of 69 percent compared to 53 percent for Yervoy alone (HR=0.58 [95% CI: 0.31-1.08]) in patients with BRAF wild-type advanced melanoma.
A phase III trial of farletuzumab failed to meet its endpoints of significantly increasing progression-free survival or overall survival in ovarian cancer patients.
A phase III trial of PD-1 inhibitor Opdivo showed significant survival benefit at one year—compared to investigator's choice of methotrexate, docetaxel or cetuximab—in patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute approved $44.4 million in funding for 21 new patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research studies.
Over 150 organizations sent an open letter to the leaders of the Senate Health, Labor, Educations and Pensions Committee, supporting them for advancing legislation that will form the basis of the Senate's version of the 21st Century Cures Act, which passed the House last year.
“And I believe we need a moonshot in this country to cure cancer.”
The Genomic Data Commons, NCI's latest big data project, is poised to become a major player in oncology bioinformatics when it opens June 1.
