Clinical Trials for Testicular Cancer

Clinical trials are the final stages of cancer research that assess a potential new drug or therapy that’s already been studied extensively in the laboratory. Trials are carefully monitored scientific studies that involve patients and offer the earliest access to these newest treatment options. Trials are conducted to determine a drug’s proper dose, how well it works and whether it’s more effective than current standard treatments. All drugs and treatment approaches currently used as standard of care were once studied in clinical trials.

Why it matters

Participating in a clinical trial is the only way to access the very latest options, oftentimes years before they become available to other providers. If you have cancer, you need the very best treatment today, not years from now.

While patients with testicular cancer are often cured, treatments like chemotherapy and radiation can be harsh and possibly result in long-term side effects. Researchers continually look to develop therapeutic approaches that may be more effective, can successfully treat more patients, and pose fewer and milder side effects.

What options are available to testicular cancer patients?

Roswell Park’s research program provides patients with more options to maximize survival and quality of life, including:

• New combinations of existing drugs. Researchers are evaluating how well the targeted therapy drug carbozantinib works in combination with two immunotherapy drugs, nivolumab and ipilimumab.
• Accelerated chemotherapy regimen for patients with intermediate or poor-risk metastatic disease.