SWOG Cancer Research Network

More DART Results, and the Birth of DART II Enrollment to SWOG's S1609 DART rare cancer basket trial included 21 patients with adrenocortical carcinoma, a rare and typically aggressive cancer. In one-third of these patients, DART's combination immunotherapy prompted a partial response or stable disease for at least six months. Given the rarity of this disease, prior treatment standards were derived largely from retrospective studies, and there has been little progress in identifying new therapies. This is the latest in a string of rare cancers the DART combination has shown some success in. Read more about the trial's successor, DART II, now in development: https://lnkd.in/eCFaQSZN

Patient-Reported Outcomes: Engaging Your Core! SWOG established its patient-reported outcomes (PRO) core in mid-2019, to help expedite the development of PRO sub-studies within both NCORP and NCTN trials and to develop a uniform framework for design of these sub-studies and analysis of the data collected. The PRO Core strongly supports investigators looking to incorporate PROs and quality-of-life measures into their studies. Read more about the who, what, and how of SWOG's PRO Core in this week's Front Line blog post from Dr. Charles Blanke, SWOG group chair. https://lnkd.in/eF-m2_QC

SWOG's fall 2024 group meeting will be held at the Chicago Hyatt Regency, October 16 - 19! Registration is open now thru Oct 4th.  Most open sessions at the meeting will be live-streamed; most invitation-only sessions will be in-person only.  We encourage you to make your travel and hotel reservations early!  Visit https://lnkd.in/eEs7-s4i

From our SWOG Chair's Front Line blog: Sparking Friendly Competition To paint a richer picture of our membership for upcoming grants, we need more SWOG members to complete their member profile. So, to stimulate interest and encourage action, we’re injecting a bit of friendly competition. We will pit SWOG committee against SWOG committee to see which can achieve the highest profile completion rate among its members. The fun will be more evident come our fall group meeting in Chicago. ... https://lnkd.in/eSKAPnZ7

There is growing interest in using pragmatic clinical trials (PCTs) to bridge the gap between research and practice in oncology, as they more closely resemble real-world care and have potential to enhance outcomes.  Introducing pragmatic elements into clinical trials can, where appropriate:  - Streamline trial conduct and data collection  - Reduce the burden of clinical trials on patients and providers  - Facilitate the enrollment of more diverse trial populations This can potentially result in improved understanding of product effectiveness and safety in a population more representative of those affected by the disease.  Our previous work has explored the opportunity of PCTs and at times led to the establishment of trials incorporating pragmatic elements.  In 2014, Friends of Cancer Research , with our partners at the FDA, National Cancer Institute (NCI), The National Institutes of Health, FNIH, and other stakeholders, established Lung-MAP, a first-of-its-kind clinical trial model that uses a multi-drug, targeted screening approach to match patients with sub-studies testing investigational treatments based on their unique tumor profiles. Lung-MAP constantly adapts to the fast pace of science and the drug development landscape, studying new treatments as they become available. In 2022, encouraging results were reported from an arm of Lung-MAP investigating a novel drug combination (ramucirumab + pembrolizumab). These data set the stage for a larger study to confirm findings with regulatory intent.  With the robust safety and efficacy data for each and the initial results from Lung-MAP, a trial called Pragmatica-Lung. launched in 2023 as part of FDA’s Project Pragmatica. This PCT was designed to efficiently confirm results from the #LungMAP study by focusing on a single metric – overall survival. At the Friends of Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023, we continued to explore ways to operationalize PCTs, building on our work with the Lung-MAP clinical trial, collaboration with the #FDA Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE), and Pragmatica-Lung. Our 2023 Annual Meeting White Paper details examples and case studies for including pragmatic elements in modern clinical trials. Read more here: bit.ly/49r3TFY   Watch the panel discussion here, “Incorporating Pragmatic Trial Elements into Oncology Drug Development”:  https://lnkd.in/esyN_2ZS SWOG Cancer Research Network

DDR gene mutations associated with chemo response in bladder cancer From a SWOG S1314 analysis: Tumors from localized muscle-invasive bladder cancer that had a mutation in any one of three DNA damage-repair (DDR) genes were more than 5 times as likely to be eradicated by neoadjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy than were tumors without such mutations. Pre-treatment sequencing for these changes could help identify patients with the disease who could trade bladder removal surgery for continued surveillance. Results published in European Urology. Read our press release: https://lnkd.in/emb36tpV

From the SWOG group chair's Front Line blog: Jack Aiello and His Mission to Educate Patients The outpouring of memories, tributes, and real love and loss on myeloma and advocacy lists and social media this week speaks volumes about the scope and depth of Jack Aiello’s impact -- on myeloma patients, care providers, and researchers – and on the broader patient advocate community. Jack served as a patient advocate to SWOG’s myeloma research committee for a decade, until this past October. He passed away July 13th. Read more at https://lnkd.in/dfzTkXhm

The @SWOG S2005 trial has been re-opened. It was redesigned to address safety concerns about the combination of ibrutinib with venetoclax. Ibrutinib has been removed from the investigational arm. S2005 now compares ibrutinib + rituximab vs venetoclax + rituximab in patients with untreated #Waldenström's #macroglobulinemia or #lymphoplasmacytic #lymphoma. Patients with evidence of disease on either arm can crossover to the other arm. Time to revisit the study at your site? Learn more at https://lnkd.in/eCiuqU-B

Co-Chair Wanted: Prevention, Screening, and Surveillance SWOG has an illustrious history in cancer prevention research, and we’re now looking for our next committee leader to help further this tradition. Dr. Marian Neuhouser, co-chair of our prevention and epidemiology committee for the past decade, will step down from that role. We’ve launched a national search for a new co-chair to serve alongside current co-chair Dr. Banu Arun to lead a committee renamed to more accurately reflect its evolved scope and mission: the prevention, screening, and surveillance committee. https://lnkd.in/ewZGASz8

The SWOG S1937 clinical trial in metastatic urothelial carcinoma has reopened to enrollment. The study was revised based on changes in FDA-approved treatments and to broaden eligibility criteria. An earlier requirement for previous platinum-based chemo has been dropped. S1937 now compares an eribulin + gemcitabine combination to standard of care (the eribulin-only arm has closed). PI: Sarmad Sadeghi, MD, PhD, of USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center Co-PI: Primo N. Lara, Jr., MD, of UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center https://lnkd.in/eUWtNUep