NCI Director Dr. W. Kimryn Rathmell and NCI Special Advisor Dr. Shaalan Beg explain how reshaping the cancer clinical trials infrastructure to overcome key bottlenecks will involve embracing technology and collaboration and inviting innovation.
In many phase 1 clinical trials of cancer drugs, researchers seek to find the maximum tolerated dose of the drug being tested. Now, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and others are looking at ways to identify doses that produce fewer side effects but are still effective against cancer.
The immunotherapy drug durvalumab (Imfinzi) can help people with early-stage small cell lung cancer live longer, results from a large clinical trial show. Three years after starting treatment, nearly 60% of people who received the drug were still alive.
More than half of clinical trial participants treated with venetoclax, ibrutinib, prednisone, obinutuzumab, and lenalidomide (ViPOR) had substantial tumor shrinkage. Of those, 38% had tumors that disappeared completely.
Recent results from several small clinical trials have suggested it may be possible to develop an effective immunotherapy for glioblastoma. Among them are findings from a four-patient trial testing a unique type of mRNA cancer vaccine.
FDA has granted an accelerated approval to tovorafenib (Ojemda) for kids and teens who have low-grade glioma with changes in the BRAF gene. In a small clinical trial, the drug shrank or eliminated tumors in nearly 70% of patients.
Clinical Trials Information for Patients and Caregivers
NCI’s blog for cancer research news, Cancer Currents, reports on findings from cancer clinical trials, with commentary from leading researchers on how the trial results will affect patient care.
NCI’s Center for Cancer Research (CCR) physicians develop and conduct a wide range of clinical trials to develop new medicines and treatments for patients with cancer, HIV or immune disorders. Learn more about CCR clinical trials on their clinical trials patient information page.
This phase 1/2 trial will test a combination of immunotherapy agents for people with colorectal cancer that has spread to other parts of the body. Doctors want to see if combining up to three drugs and a vaccine is safe and causes tumors to shrink or disappear.
This phase 2 clinical trial will test lurbinectedin (Zepzelca) alone or with an immunotherapy drug called avelumab (Bavencio) for people with small cell carcinoma of the bladder or other rare neuroendocrine tumors of the urinary tract. Both drugs are FDA approved for other cancer types. Doctors want to see how well the drugs work to shrink tumors.
In this pilot study, people with early prostate cancer will undergo treatment with MRI-guided ultrasound therapy. The ultrasound unit is inserted into the urethra and uses heat to destroy the cancer in the prostate.
