E-Newsletter - May 2024
Spotlight on ComboMATCH Trials



Two Alliance ComboMATCH Treatment Trials
NOW ENROLLING PARTICIPANTS

The National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Combination Therapy Platform Trial with Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice (ComboMATCH) is a large precision medicine initiative with a coordinated set of clinical trials evaluating new anti-cancer drug combinations in select groups of adults and children with cancer. Each trial is geared to studying the effectiveness of a specific drug combination in a select group of patients. The drug combinations are either two targeted therapies or chemotherapy with a targeted drug. ComboMATCH aims to find out if new drug combinations guided by tumor biology will be more effective than single drugs.

Participants must first enroll in the ComboMATCH Patient Registration Trial (EAY191) for a screening assessment to help determine eligibility for a treatment trial based on the unique genetic material (genes) of their tumor cells. Patients with some gene abnormalities (or mutation) may benefit from treatment that targets that particular genetic mutation. ComboMATCH will match patients to a treatment that may work to control their tumor.

Nine treatment trials have been planned for ComboMATCH, opening to patient enrollment on a rolling basis. ComboMATCH is a cross-group collaboration among the NCI and all five groups within NCI’s National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN). Alliance has launched two of the nine treatment trials.

Take a look.

Alliance EAY191-A6: A ComboMATCH Treatment Trial: FOLFOX in Combination with Binimetinib as 2nd Line Therapy for Patients with Advanced Biliary Tract Cancers with MAPK Pathway Alterations

Alliance investigator Ardaman S. Shergill, MD, of the University of Chicago Medicine, leads this new phase II ComboMATCH treatment trial that compares the usual treatment of modified leucovorin, fluorouracil and oxaliplatin (mFOLFOX6) chemotherapy to using binimetinib plus mFOLFOX6 chemotherapy to shrink tumors in patients with biliary tract cancers that have spread to other places in the body (advanced) and had progression of cancer after previous treatments (2nd line setting).

Fluorouracil is in a class of medications called antimetabolites. It works by slowing or stopping the growth of cancer cells in the body. Oxaliplatin is in a class of medications called platinum-containing antineoplastic agents. It works by killing tumor cells. Leucovorin may help the other drugs in the mFOLFOX6 chemotherapy regimen work better by making tumor cells more sensitive to the drugs. Binimetinib is in a class of medications called kinase inhibitors. It works by blocking the action of the abnormal protein that signals tumor cells to multiply. This helps to stop or slow the spread of tumor cells. Giving binimetinib in combination with mFOLFOX6 chemotherapy may be effective in shrinking or stabilizing advanced biliary tract cancers in the 2nd line setting.

Activated: 8/11/2023 | Learn more, visit CT.gov | ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT05564403

************************

Alliance EAY191-A3: Palbociclib and Binimetinib in RAS-Mutant Cancers

Alliance investigator Geoffrey I. Shapiro, MD, PhD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, leads this phase II clinical trial that evaluates the effectiveness of palbociclib and binimetinib in treating patients with RAS-mutated cancers. Palbociclib and binimetinib are both in a class of medications called kinase inhibitors. They work by blocking the action of abnormal proteins that signals cancer cells to multiply.

This trial may help researchers understand if giving the combination of palbociclib and binimetinib can help improve the amount of time before the cancer grows in patients with patients with low grade serous ovarian cancer who have certain changes in the tumor DNA. This trial may also help researchers understand if giving the combination of palbociclib and binimetinib can help improve outcomes among patients with low grade serous ovarian cancer who have previously received a MEK inhibitor. For patients with other tumors, except for lung cancer, colon cancer, melanoma and low grade serous ovarian cancers, this trial may help researchers understand if giving the combination of palbociclib and binimetinib can improve the clinical outcome of survival without progression in patients who have certain changes in their tumor's DNA.

Activated: 11/15/2023 | Learn more, visit CT.gov | ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT05554367

 

Read more news briefs from this issue: