For the last three decades, breakthroughs have been sparse for soft tissue sarcomas, which are rare cancers that affect muscles, fat and other connective tissues. Today, a global team of researchers funded by a Stand Up To Cancer ® (SU2C) grant announced clinical trial results that point to a new immunotherapy treatment option for two of the most common types of soft tissue sarcoma in adults, a breakthrough that reduces the risk of relapse by 43% at two years and will likely impact clinical practice for these cancer types. The research was presented today at the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.
The clinical trial, which was run by a SU2C Catalyst ® Research Team, was supported by Merck's (known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada) Investigator Studies Program and sponsored by the Sarcoma Alliance for Research through Collaboration (SARC). SU2C Catalyst grants rapidly accelerate clinical trials of new treatments and combination therapies. Immunotherapies have transformed cancer care for many cancers, but in the 25 years I have been caring for sarcoma patients, we haven't seen any significant advances for these kinds of sarcoma.
This study will change that. From my point of view, this is the most important study for patients with these sarcomas in 30 years because it's addressing an important unmet need." David Kirsch, M.
D., Ph.D.
, leader of the SU2C Catalyst Research Team and Head of the Radiation Medicine Program at Princess Margaret Can.
