Clinical trials can be the last resort for some of the deadliest and rarest cancer types, which are unfortunately also more common in adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer patients. Around half of the cancer types that affect young people have five-year survival rates below 77%, well below that of adult and childhood cancers.
As part of our focus on improving outcomes for AYA cancer patients, Canteen currently administers five clinical trials for young people aged 15-25. This work is supported by funding from the Australian Government and by generous donations from the Australian community.
Current Clinical Trials
INTER-EWING-1
INTER-EWING-1 is an international clinical research program with an aim of improving outcomes in Ewing Sarcoma patients – the only trial opportunity for Australian patients with a new diagnosis of Ewing Sarcoma. Led by Dr Geoffrey McCowage and Monash University, INTER-EWING-1 is exploring evidence for standardised protocols in treatment while identifying the optimal treatment methods to help reduce the unnecessary late effects experienced by many AYA patients. This trial is currently recruiting patients.
rEECur
The rEECur trial – International Randomised Controlled Trial of Chemotherapy for the Treatment of Recurrent and Primary Refractory Ewing Sarcoma – exists to improve access to clinical trials for young cancer patients with a relapsed Ewing Sarcoma diagnosis via multidisciplinary teams specialising in sarcoma and youth cancer care.
Recently Completed Clinical Trials
ALL09
Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is a type of blood cancer that is the third most common cause of death from cancer among adolescents and young adults. The ALL09 clinical trial – a Phase II Study of Blinatumomab as Induction Therapy in AYA ALL – aimed to both improve overall survival as well as reduce side effects for young people by replacing some of the chemotherapy typically given during treatment with a novel therapy that uses a patient’s immune system to fight the cancer.
What the trial found is that by incorporating blinatumomab into standard chemotherapy treatment resulted in a much higher rate of better disease remission post-treatment and much lower rates of cancer reoccurrence.
The ALL09 results also showed a significantly higher rate of minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity post-treatment and excellent 2-year and 5-year overall survival rates. Incredibly, none of the patients on the ALL09 trial had reoccurrence of their leukaemia after this new treatment.
These exciting results have paved the way for the adoption of this new, less toxic and more effective treatment for this type of acute leukaemia in AYA patients.
AYA-MoST
AYA-MoST: a Molecular Screening and Therapeutics trial for Australian Adolescents and Young Adults with advanced cancer – used state-of-the-art genetic profiling to improve survival rates for people with rare cancers. Led by David Thomas at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, the AYA-MoST trial offered young people with incurable cancers a genomionate access and special drug access programs on an individual basis.
The results of the trial provided insight into how biomarker-linked therapies can be used to support treatment in rare and advanced cancer populations.
