A clinical trial led by NCI has resulted in the first approved treatment for advanced alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS). The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the immunotherapy drug atezolizumab (Tecentriq) for the treatment of adults and children 2 years and older with ASPS that has spread to other parts of the body or cannot be removed by surgery.
Based on an NCI-sponsored clinical trial conducted by the Children’s Oncology Group, FDA has approved the drug brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) in combination with chemotherapy for some children and adolescents with Hodgkin lymphoma.
In a large clinical trial, a condensed course of radiation therapy was as effective and safe as a longer standard course for those people with higher-risk early-stage breast cancer who had a lumpectomy to remove the tumor. This shorter radiation course makes treatment less of a burden for patients.
A JNCI Monograph on "Engaging Older Adults in Cancer Clinical Trials Conducted in NCI’s Clinical Trials Network" is available now. The articles, developed through working groups formed for an NCI workshop held in April 2021, provide recommendations and new and innovative solutions to common accrual barriers.
NCI’s Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis recently announced a new comparative oncology research network, called PRECINCT 2022, to extend research in canine immunotherapy trials. Clinical trials for pet dogs with cancer provide valuable information for the development of future cancer treatments for people.
Clinical Trials Information for Patients and Caregivers
Clinical trials and the people who volunteer for them help improve our understanding of cancer. This page shares the stories of just a few of the thousands of people who have participated in cancer clinical trials conducted through NCI’s clinical trial programs and initiatives.
This page describes NCI’s clinical trial programs and initiatives and explains how they help support a national infrastructure for clinical cancer research. These programs and initiatives help make cancer clinical trials more responsive to the rapid advances being made in cancer science.
This phase 1 trial will test an immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment, either nivolumab (Opdivo) or pembrolizumab (Keytruda), given at different dosing intervals for people with advanced or metastatic cancers. Doctors want to determine if giving the drugs with longer intervals between doses produces the same effect as giving them at the standard intervals.
This phase 1 trial will test a combination of six drugs for people with B-cell lymphoma that has either come back or not responded to treatment. Doctors want to see if these drugs are safe and effective when given together.
Vaccines work by bolstering the immune system to fight infection, but people with cancer often have suppressed or compromised immune systems. This study will examine how the immune systems of young people with cancer aged 6 months to 37 years respond to the COVID vaccine.
