Clinical Trials

Ovarian cancer is largely incurable, as symptoms often don’t appear until the disease has reached an advanced stage. It is also prone to recurrence, with around 70% of women diagnosed with the disease experiencing recurrences, according to the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance.

The UP-NEXT trial aims to enrol 350 patients, specifically those whose ovarian cancer has returned following treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy drugs, such as cisplatin, carboplatin and oxaliplatin. Patients will be treated with either intravenous upifitamin rilsodotin or a placebo drug every four weeks following a round of chemotherapy treatment.

Dr Amanda Jackson, physician-researcher at the University of Cincinnati and principal investigator for the UP-NEXT trial, commented: “The drug is considered a maintenance medication. We’re looking to see how well this drug works and is it going to change outcomes. Specifically, it’s looking to see how long we can keep people’s cancer at bay without it coming back. […] We usually start with the platinum-resistant group, and if you can prove that platinum-resistant patients can get benefit from this drug, then we keep moving it up further and further up the list to see if we can get a better impact. This is our only platinum-sensitive study open. When we get a drug at this level, we’re really excited about it because there’s a really good chance it could change how we treat patients in the future.”