Feature Channels: Clinical Trials

• share
• favorite_border

Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy or CAR T is a breakthrough treatment for patients with certain types of blood cancers. The cellular therapy uses a patient’s own immune cells that are reengineered to better seek out and destroy cancer cells. The single infusion treatment is approved for patients who have relapsed after two or more types of therapy but results from the ZUMA-7 clinical trial show lymphoma patients can benefit from receiving the CAR T product axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta) sooner.

• share
• favorite_border

Research underway at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey will contribute to the development of new cancer treatments that are based on the administration of cancer-fighting immune cells to patients.

• share
• favorite_border

Deciding which medication to prescribe for a new epilepsy diagnosis is an issue without much guidance. The second Standard And New Anti-epileptic Drugs study (SANAD II) compared medications for both focal and generalized epilepsies.

• share
• favorite_border

Physicians and researchers presented the latest scientific developments into pulmonary fibrosis and interstitial lung disease at its biennial PFF Summit in November. Registration is still open at PFFSummit.org to view all sessions on-demand through Feb. 20, 2022.

• share
• favorite_border

Human trials are set to begin for two next-generation COVID-19 vaccines developed by a team of scientists at McMaster University.

• share
• favorite_border

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital phase II clinical trial results suggest that the monoclonal antibody hu14.18K322A could help change treatment of children with high-risk neuroblastoma.

• share
• favorite_border

UC San Diego School of Medicine partners with The Michael J. Fox Foundation on a clinical study to identify biomarkers of Parkinson’s disease. The study seeks to recruit 4,000 participants by the end of 2023.

• share
• favorite_border

It can be difficult to predict how patients will respond to bladder cancer treatments, so ISU scientists are perfecting a new technique that grows organoids from patients’ urine samples on which various treatments can be tested. The innovative approach could allow doctors to better tailor therapies to patients.

• share
• favorite_border

Using high-frequency waves, the new treatment pushes smaller stones from the bottom of the kidney toward the ureter. The procedure allows for an office visit instead of surgery.

• share
• favorite_border

Fox Chase Cancer Center has opened an investigator-initiated, phase 1 clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of gamitrinib in patients with advanced cancer.

• share
• favorite_border

USC study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine shows that experimental drug protects against injury caused by tiny blood clots in the brain’s white matter, which can accumulate over time and lead to cognitive decline

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at Penn State College of Medicine are seeking volunteers from across the U.S. to participate in a clinical trial examining whether online mindfulness-based stress reduction can reduce stress and average blood sugar levels in those with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center are working to develop a dendritic cell vaccine targeting HER3, a protein involved in the growth and spread of many different cancer types. Their pre-clinical work has been published in the journal Cancer Immunology Research.

• share
• favorite_border

FDA approved an imaging drug known as Cytalux (pafolacianine), which is attracted to ovarian cancer tissue and illuminates it when exposed to fluorescent light, allowing surgeons to more easily find and more precisely remove the cancer.

• share
• favorite_border

MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute physicians at MedStar Washington Hospital Center have completed their 300th implant of the HeartMate 3 Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD), which treats patients with advanced heart failure. MedStar Washington is among the first four LVAD programs nationwide to reach this historic milestone.

• share
• favorite_border

Novel randomized controlled trial found that families with high consumption of avocados experienced reduced caloric intake and an overall healthier diet, without actually changing their diet.

• share
• favorite_border

The Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center has been awarded grants from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) to increase minority participation in clinical trials, expand lung cancer screening, develop brain tumor drugs, and advance innovations in drug discovery and technology.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study from the University of Michigan Health Rogel Cancer Center finds circulating tumor DNA, or ctDNA, levels can predict as early as two weeks after starting treatment which patients are likely to have good outcomes. At the same time, specialized MRI and PET scans two weeks after starting chemoradiation also correlated with outcomes.

• share
• favorite_border

Physicians at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston have received a seven-year, $22 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to help lead a multicenter clinical trial evaluating whether a novel immunosuppressant can reduce the risk of organ rejection after a lung transplant.

• share
• favorite_border

With multiple clinical trials under way, it’s likely both a drug using Ac-225 and increased demand for the radioisotope are in the near future — and the U.S. Department of Energy wants to be ready. Since 2015, DOE’s Isotope Program has sponsored the Tri-Lab Effort to Provide Accelerator-produced Ac-225 for Radiotherapy. Thorium-232 targets are irradiated in proton accelerators at Los Alamos and Brookhaven national laboratories, then sent to ORNL for processing in hot cells dedicated to alpha radiation. The purpose: producing bigger batches, faster. In June, ORNL processed the largest batch of Ac-225 ever put in inventory.

• share
• favorite_border

Alexander disease is a progressive and rare neurological disorder with no cure or standard course of treatment. But a new study led by researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison involving a rat model of the disease offers a potential treatment for the typically fatal condition.

• share
• favorite_border

A randomized controlled trial of 2,275 women in Kenya showed that a single dose of the HPV vaccine was highly effective. The current standard for women is three doses. This news could greatly hasten the pace of vaccinations and brings renewed energy to make cervical cancer the first cancer to be wiped out.

• share
• favorite_border

This study may change the way we manage patients with moderate aortic stenosis and save lives.

• share
• favorite_border

More people with advanced melanoma survive for two years or more when they receive a combination of two immunotherapy drugs given before a combination of two targeted therapies, if needed, compared to people who start treatment with targeted therapies.

• share
• favorite_border

An implant that delivers medication to the back of the eye was found to effectively treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD) for at least six months.

• share
• favorite_border

In an effort to further position the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine as a global leader in the field of urology, the Desai Sethi Family Foundation has made an extraordinary commitment of $20 million to the Miller School’s renowned Department of Urology. The Foundation’s generosity will help establish a premier Urology Institute within the Miller School that will accelerate breakthrough advances in research, expand clinical care, and train future generations of urologists.

• share
• favorite_border

Mayo Clinic and several health organizations launched the Advancing Clinical Trials at the Point of Care Coalition to improve patient care by giving clinicians quality clinical research evidence in real time to better evaluate treatments and therapeutics, including those to treat COVID-19. The ACT@POC coalition will bring together health systems, community-based care organizations, health research organizations and a more diverse group of patients and providers to support the design of adaptable clinical trials and develop digital health tools that make clinical trials simpler to conduct and more accessible to patients.

• share
• favorite_border

Cancer patients who are ineligible for clinical trials receive immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) at greater rates than patients who are trial eligible despite no survival benefit, according to a new study by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The study, published in JAMA Oncology, suggests that the positive results for phase 3 clinical trial participants receiving ICI treatment may not translate to patients who are ineligible for trials due to factors such as organ dysfunction.

• share
• favorite_border

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists have identified the primary target of the experimental cancer drug CX-5164, revealing a possible risk for late effects of treatment.

• share
• favorite_border

SWISS-APERO is the first randomized clinical trial comparing Amulet with the new generation Watchman FLX device in terms of residual left atrial appendage (LAA) patency after percutaneous LAA closure (LAAC) as evaluated by 45-day cardiac computed tomography angiography (CCTA). The study showed that the two devices achieve a similar rate of LAA occlusion at 45 days but through different mechanism. Furthermore, Amulet as compared with Watchman FLX was associated with higher procedural complications but similar clinical outcomes at 45-days.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers leading the Tau Nex Gen Trial — a worldwide clinical trial aimed at finding treatments for Alzheimer’s disease — are modifying an arm of the trial to target two brain proteins: amyloid and tau. A part of DIAN-TU, the trial originally was announced with a focus on drugs that target tau.

• share
• favorite_border

An economic analysis of data from PARTNER 3, a randomized trial comparing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in patients with severe aortic stenosis and low surgical risk, found that despite higher procedural costs, at 2-year follow-up, quality-adjusted life expectancy was greater and total costs were lower with TAVR; as a result, at 2-years, TAVR was cost-effective for these patients.

• share
• favorite_border

The FAVOR III China trial found that lesion selection for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) using the non-invasively assessed physiologic measurement quantitative flow ratio (QFR) improved outcomes for PCI compared with a standard angiography-guided strategy.

• share
• favorite_border

The new drug candidate, Paxlovid, significantly reduced hospitalization and death in adult patients, according to Pfizer, and will be submitted for an emergency use authorization in the United States. Data was taken at IMCA-CAT at the APS.

• share
• favorite_border

• Results from a recent clinical trial indicate that the diabetes drug dapagliflozin slows kidney function decline in patients with chronic kidney disease, regardless of whether they have diabetes. • Results from the study will be presented online at ASN Kidney Week 2021 November 4–November 7.

• share
• favorite_border

The results of numerous high-impact clinical trials that could affect kidney-related medical care will be presented online at ASN Kidney Week 2021 November 4–November 7.

• share
• favorite_border

As part of a recently launched international phase 3 clinical trial, Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine are investigating whether the Merck antiviral pill, molnupiravir, now approved in Britain for treating COVID-19, can prevent COVID-19 in unvaccinated individuals living with people who have contracted the disease. Montefiore-Einstein is the first and only New York State site for the trial and was selected due to its diverse patient population and expertise in clinical trials of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.

• share
• favorite_border

The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) has entered into a partnership with biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca in an effort to advance and improve lung cancer treatment and eliminate disparities in health care.

• share
• favorite_border

A promising new therapy for mesothelioma and metastatic cancer, arising from laboratory investigations at the University of Vermont Cancer Center, is about to enter a Phase I clinical trial. he approach, published in PLOS ONE, targets a universal vulnerability in cancer cells that could be exploited therapeutically.