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Practice changing results show improved progression free survival and new treatment for patients with endometrial cancer

Interim analysis results from the Phase III CCTG ENC1 clinical trial

Practice changing data presented in endometrial cancer that demonstrates improved progression-free survival outcomes with the addition of Pembrolizumab to chemotherapy for women with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer.

Interim analysis results from the Phase III NRG-GY018 (CCTG ENC1) clinical trial comparing pembrolizumab combined with standard of care chemotherapy followed by maintenance pembrolizumab indicated that patients who received this treatment exhibited improved progression-free survival outcomes.These findings were presented as a late-breaking abstract at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) 2023 Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer and simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“Patients with advanced stage or recurrent endometrial cancer, the most common type of gynecologic cancer in the U.S., face a poor prognosis with limited treatment options,” stated Ramez Eskander, MD, of the University of California San Diego Moores Cancer Center and the Principal Investigator of the NRG-GY018 trial. “In this study, pembrolizumab in combination with carboplatin and paclitaxel resulted in a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in PFS in both the dMMR and pMMR study populations. Future analysis will examine the secondary endpoints of this study, including overall survival and quality of life outcomes.”

Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer in Canada and there are limited options for patients diagnosed with late-stage disease. An estimated 1400 Canadians die from this disease annually, and this number is increasing. Despite advances in many other cancers in the past decade, progress in endometrial cancer has lagged far behind.

Dr Stephen Welch
Canadian study lead Dr. Stephen Welch

"This study represents the first positive trial in nearly twenty years for patients with newly-diagnosed advanced endometrial cancer," says the Canadian study lead Dr. Stephen Welch, an Oncologist at London Health Sciences Centre and the CCTG Gynecologic Committee Chair. "These results are eagerly anticipated by the medical community, patients and their family members, as it will most certainly establish the new standard-of-care for this deadly disease."

The NRG-GY018 (CCTG ENC1) trial was a collaboration between NRG Oncology in the US and Canadian Cancer Trials Group that completed recruitment in December 2022.

NRG press release >