Cancer Research UK, The University of Manchester and Roche Products Ltd ('Roche'), today (Wednesday 23rd), announce that they have opened a multi-drug, precision medicine trial for people with rare cancers who need more treatment options.
The trial is set up to recruit both paediatric and adult patients, with any rare cancer type and is one of very few precision medicine platform trials in the world targeting these populations.
The DETERMINE* trial aims to find out whether existing drugs, including those which are licensed for more common types of cancer, could also benefit patients with rare cancer types that the drug isn't currently licensed for.
Worldwide, rare cancers make up 22 out of every 100 (22%) cancers that are diagnosed each year** which is more than any single type of cancer. If we were to define all rare cancers as a single type, they would top the list of the most prevalent cancers worldwide, above lung, breast and colorectal cancer.
But despite their prevalence, fewer treatment options exist for patients with rare cancers.
Patients eligible for the trial will have undergone genetic screening and found that they have one of the particular genetic mutations in their cancer that can be targeted by a drug on the trial***.
Its unique design means that any treatment which appears to be working for patients on the trial will be submitted for review by the Cancer Drug Fund (CDF)**** who will then decide whether to collect more data and assess if the drug could be used as a routine treatment option on the NHS for patients with this cancer type.
