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A trial looking at weekly chemotherapy for ovarian cancer (ICON8) open to patients until October 2014

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ICON8 is an international trial comparing weekly chemotherapy with three weekly chemotherapy for women with ovarian cancer, fallopian tube cancer or primary peritoneal cancer.

Dr Andrew Dean, Principal Investigator for the ICON8 trial in Australia said: ‘This is the the most important clinical trial in ovarian cancer for upfront treatment for women who have just been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The treatment for ovarian cancer is traditionally done in a convenient once every 3 weeks scheduling. A study carried out by the Japanese ovarian cancer group suggested that having the same chemotherapy treatment but once per week in a smaller dose provided some advantage to Japanese patients.’

‘Japanese people and Caucasian people do not necessarily respond to drugs the same way (ie. some of the drugs that work well in Japanese people do not work as well in Westerners and vice versa).  The international ovarian cancer trials research groups believe that we need to find out if the same  is true for Caucasian women. The ICON8 trial compares once every three weeks treatment versus once every week as per the Japanese study.’

Dr Dean said: ‘Most of the major ovarian cancer treatment centres in Australia also believed that this question is important enough to conduct the trial in Australia and New Zealand.  We hope at the end of the ICON8 trial that we will be able to advise all women, from whatever race, whether the best possible treatment for ovarian cancer with our best drugs is best given once every one week or once every 3 weeks.  By taking part in the study, patients are helping to potentially define the gold standard for ovarian cancer chemotherapy treatment for the next decade.’

‘The rest of the world had a headstart on Australia and the trial has been recruiting fast across Europe – we therefore expect the trial to be open to Australian patients only until the end of October 2014. We are encouraging women with a diagnosis of ovarian cancer who have not yet had treatment to take part in the study.’

The way to be assessed for the trial is to ask your treating doctor if the trial is suitable to you (ie you have just been diagnosed with ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer and have not yet started chemotherapy). Please view this page for a list of  centres conducting the trial near you and advise your doctor you would like to be considered for the trial. Please feel free to print out this information and take it with you to your doctor.

More details on the ICON8 Trial can be viewed here or the Australia New Zealand Gynaecological Oncology Group website www.anzgog.org.au


Background on ICON8

ICON8 is a randomised three-arm, three stage Gynaecologic Cancer InterGroup (GCIG) phase III trial designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of dose-dense, dose-fractionated carboplatin-paclitaxel chemotherapy in the treatment of patients with ovarian cancer.

ICON8 is an international trial comparing weekly chemotherapy with 3 weekly chemotherapy for women with ovarian cancer, fallopian tube cancer or primary peritoneal cancer.*

Ovarian cancer is usually treated by a combination of surgery and chemotherapy. The chemotherapy used for ovarian cancer is usually a combination of two drugs, carboplatin and paclitaxel (which is also known as Taxol) given for 6 cycles. This treatment is internationally considered to be a standard of care for ovarian cancer.  Each cycle of treatment is given over a 3 week period. A cycle includes the time when the chemotherapy is given and then a break before the next treatment to allow the body to recover.

Recent studies have suggested that giving chemotherapy more frequently than once every 3 weeks is also effective. This type of treatment, known as dose-fractionated chemotherapy involves giving carboplatin and/or paclitaxel at a lower dose every week during treatment so that a smaller dose of chemotherapy is given every week for 18 weeks rather than a larger dose once every 3 weeks.

Some women will have surgery as the first treatment following their diagnosis then 6 cycles of chemotherapy. Others will have 3 cycles of chemotherapy initially, then surgery followed by 3 more cycles of chemotherapy.

In this study we want to find out if weekly chemotherapy is more effective than standard chemotherapy in treating ovarian cancer. We also want to see if weekly chemotherapy causes more or fewer side-effects than standard chemotherapy. Although weekly chemotherapy involves more doses of chemotherapy than standard chemotherapy, the treatment course is the same length for both.

This clinical trial was initiated in the UK BY Cancer Research UK, Chief Investigator Dr Andrew Clamp.


For more information – www.anzgog.org.au

Please note: we cannot help you to join a specific trial. Unless we state otherwise in the trial summary, you need to print this page and take it to your own doctor to discuss.

Contact your doctor or to find out how to join a trial for a gynaecological cancer phone the Australia New Zealand Gynaecological Oncology Group (02 8071 4880), or email enquiries@anzgog.org.au.

Principal Investigator in Australia and New Zealand

Dr Andrew Dean

Supported by

Cancer Australia


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Dates

Posted On: 4 July, 2014
Modified On: 28 August, 2014


Created by: myVMC