Clinical Trials Update from NCI, April 2020

Clinical Trials Update from NCI, April 2020

Clinical Trials
Updates from the National Cancer Institute
Clinical Trials News
		At NCI, A Robust and Rapid Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic NCI Director Norman Sharpless, M.D., describes some of the COVID-19 specific research activities NCI has initiated and talks about the effect the coronavirus pandemic is having on cancer clinical trials.
		NCI Initiative Aims to Boost CAR T-Cell Therapy Clinical Trials NCI is developing the capability to produce cellular therapies, like CAR T cells, to be tested in cancer clinical trials at multiple hospital sites. Few laboratories and centers have the ability to make CAR T cells, and that has limited the ability to test them more broadly.
		Selumetinib Approved by FDA to Treat Children with NF1 The Food and Drug Administration has approved selumetinib (Koselugo) to treat children with neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1), a genetic disorder that causes tumors to form throughout the nervous system. The approval was based on findings from a phase 2 clinical trial spearheaded by NCI’s Pediatric Oncology Branch.
		Single Dose of HPV Vaccine Yields Long-Term Protection from Many Cancer-Causing Types More than a decade after vaccination, women who had received a single dose of a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine continued to be protected against infection with HPV16 and 18, the two cancer-causing HPV types targeted by the vaccine. The new findings are from an extended follow-up of the NCI-sponsored Costa Rica HPV Vaccine Trial.
		Women Experience More Side Effects from Pelvic Radiation than Realized Women with cervical or uterine cancer who received radiation to the pelvic region reported side effects much more often using an online reporting system called PRO-CTCAE than they did during conversations with their clinicians, a new study shows.
Clinical Trials Information for Patients and Caregivers
NCI-MATCH Trial (Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice) In the NCI-MATCH precision medicine trial, doctors examine tumor tissue from patients with advanced solid tumors, lymphomas, or myelomas that have stopped responding to treatment and assign patients to treatment based on the molecular profiles of their disease.
NCI-COG Pediatric MATCH In this precision medicine clinical trial, children and adolescents with advanced cancers whose tumors have certain genetic mutations are being treated with drugs designed to target those mutations.
		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
Immunotherapy Drug for Rare Central Nervous System Tumors This phase 2 trial is testing the immunotherapy drug nivolumab (Opdivo) in people with rare tumors of the central nervous system that have not responded to or relapsed after standard treatment. Doctors want to see if stimulating the immune system with nivolumab will cause these tumors to shrink or stop them from growing.
Virtual Tobacco Treatment for Cancer Patients This phase 2 trial studies how well smoking cessation treatment plans work for tobacco-dependent cancer patients when delivered virtually as part of their cancer care in community oncology practices. Researchers want to see if virtual information and counseling sessions can help people with cancer quit smoking.