Clinical Trials Update from NCI, May 2019

Clinical Trials Update from NCI, May 2019

Clinical Trials
Updates from the National Cancer Institute
Clinical Trials News
		When Cancer Spreads to Bone, A Single Dose of Radiation Therapy May Control Pain New findings from a clinical trial suggest that a single dose of radiation therapy may control painful bone metastases as effectively as multiple lower doses of radiation therapy.
Pediatric MATCH Study Finds More Targetable Genetic Changes than Expected An early report from the NCI–COG Pediatric MATCH trial shows that 24% of young patients with advanced cancer who had their tumors tested for genetic changes were eligible to receive one of the targeted therapies being tested.
		Tagraxofusp Proves Effective for BPDCN, A Rare Blood Cancer Adults with a rare type of cancer called blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) appear to benefit from treatment with tagraxofusp-erzs (Elzonris), according to findings from a clinical trial.
		Prostate Cancer Prevention and Finasteride: A Conversation with NCI’s Dr. Howard Parnes The Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial showed that finasteride can reduce the risk of prostate cancer but might increase the risk of high grade (potentially more aggressive) prostate cancer. NCI’s Howard Parnes talks about subsequent findings and what they mean for men aged 55 and older.
		Some Children with Liver Cancer May Need Less Chemotherapy, Study Suggests Some children with liver cancer may need less chemotherapy than is typically used to treat the disease, according to results from a phase 3 clinical trial.
		A Vaccine to Treat Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Advancing in Clinical Trials In some people with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), treating a single tumor with a mix of cancer therapies can help to shrink, or eliminate, tumors in other parts of the body, findings from a small clinical trial suggest.
Clinical Trials Information for Patients and Caregivers
Clinical Trial Research Team Members Designing and running a clinical trial requires the skills of many different types of experts. This page describes the team members typically involved in a clinical trial and their responsibilities.
Placebos in Cancer Clinical Trials Placebos are only used when there is no standard treatment or in trials that compare standard treatment plus a placebo with standard treatment plus a new treatment. Learn more about placebos and their role in cancer clinical trials.
		Find NCI-Supported Clinical Trials Use our search form to find a clinical trial or other research study that may be right for you or a loved one.
NCI-Supported Clinical Trials That Are Recruiting Patients
Comparing Targeted Drugs for Advanced Endometrial Cancer This phase 2 trial is testing the drugs olaparib (Lynparza) and cediranib (Recentin) in women with endometrial cancer that has come back, does not respond to treatment, or has spread to other places in the body. Doctors want to see if either drug alone or both drugs combined increases progression-free and overall survival in these patients.
Testing Immunotherapy in Cancer Patients with Autoimmune Disorders This phase 1 trial will examine the safety and tolerability of nivolumab (Opdivo) to treat cancer patients who also have certain autoimmune disorders, diseases in which the immune system acts against normal body tissues. Doctors will monitor the side effects and dose-limiting toxicity of nivolumab in patients with cancers that have spread or cannot be surgically removed and specific types of autoimmune diseases. They also want to determine the efficacy of nivolumab in terms of objective response rates, progression-free survival, and overall survival in these patients.
Using Immune Modulating Drugs to Boost Immunotherapy for Liver Tumors This phase 2 trial is examining the effectiveness of using drugs that modify the immune system to enhance immunotherapy treatment with nivolumab (Opdivo) for patients with advanced primary liver cancer or liver metastases from colorectal or pancreatic cancer. In the trial, patients will receive intravenous nivolumab and take oral vancomycin, an antibiotic, and tadalafil (Cialis), a drug that dilates certain blood vessels and is used to treat high blood pressure in the lungs, benign prostate disease, and erectile dysfunction. Researchers want to determine how many people respond to the combination treatment.