Recent results from two large clinical trials have led the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to fine-tune the use of pembrolizumab for treating HER2-positive cancer in the stomach and esophageal junction. At the same time, FDA has granted approval for its use in HER2-negative cancers.
On November 13, Bayer announced its intention to withdraw copanlisib (Aliqopa) from the US market for treating some people with follicular lymphoma. The announcement follows an analysis of a clinical trial intended to confirm the drug’s effectiveness.
For people with lung cancer and medullary thyroid cancer whose tumors have changes in the RET gene, selpercatinib (Retevmo) improved how long people lived without their disease worsening compared with other common treatments, according to new clinical trial results.
Clinical trials are essential for achieving progress against cancer. This passage from the NCI Fiscal Year 2025 Professional Judgment Budget Proposal explains how NCI can build on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic (such as using telemedicine) and invest in the extramural clinical research community and the NIH Clinical Center to expand access to clinical trials.
Clinical Trials Information for Patients and Caregivers
Clinical trials are research studies that test how well new medical approaches work in people. This page explains the purpose of clinical trials, types of trials, and why they are important.
This 2019 video highlights some of the research being conducted by the NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP). NCORP is a large initiative to bring NCI’s cancer treatment, supportive care, and prevention clinical trials to communities across the United States, allowing people to participate in cancer clinical trials regardless of where they live.
In this phase 1/2 trial, women with high-grade serous ovarian cancer will be given an experimental drug called AVB-001 in their abdominal cavities (intraperitoneal therapy). The drug produces an immune-regulating protein called interleukin-2. In the first part of the study, doctors will examine the safety of the drug and establish the best dose to give to patients. Then they will treat women at that dose to see if it causes tumors to shrink.
This phase 2 trial will test whether photoimmunotherapy will help shrink tumors in people with either new or recurrent head and neck squamous cell cancer. This type of photoimmunotherapy uses a drug called ASP-1929, which is activated when it is exposed to a certain kind of light. Doctors want to see if treating people with photoimmunotherapy can shrink their tumors prior to surgery.
This phase 2 trial will treat people with HPV-positive mouth cancers with a combination of the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab and a therapeutic HPV vaccine called PRGN-2009. Doctors want to see if treating people with this combination will increase the number of tumor-fighting immune cells that make their way into tumors.
