Clinical neuro-oncology trials a major focus for St Vincent’s

Clinical neuro-oncology trials a major focus for St Vincent’s

07 Mar 2022

The Kinghorn Cancer Centre at St Vincent’s is partaking in a national multi-site randomised controlled trial that aims to optimise the current standard of cancer therapy and improve the management of patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain cancer.

Each year, approximately 2,000 Australians develop brain cancer, yet there have been no advances in the management of glioblastoma over the last few decades, which is currently associated with a five-year survival rate of only 5%.

The recent implementation of the NHMRC funded Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) – for Rare Cancers, Rare Diseases and Unmet Need provides novel opportunities for research funding in brain cancers with an aim to double survival rates and improve quality of life for patients with brain cancer over a 10-year timeframe, with a longer term goal of defeating brain cancer.

One of the trials to benefit from this grant is the MAGMA trial: Multi-Arm GlioblastoMa Australasia. The trial will initially compare the current standard of neurosurgery followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy and six months of temozolomide, to current standard plus either or both of: (1) pre-radiotherapy temozolomide beginning as soon as possible after neurosurgery; and (2) continuation of temozolomide beyond six months until progression St Vincent’s Medical Oncologists, Dr Subotheni Thavaneswaran and Dr Hao-Wen Sim are leading the trial on the St Vincent’s campus and are currently recruiting patients.

“MAGMA is a great collaborative effort across the country to optimise standard of care therapies for glioblastoma patients and provide novel opportunities in a timely fashion to translate to a meaningful clinical benefit.” says Dr Thavaneswaran.

The MAGMA trial builds on major growth of the neuro-oncology service at The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, with Dr Subotheni Thavaneswaran concurrently leading the Cancer Molecular Screening and Therapeutics program – MoST; and Dr Hao-Wen Sim being the Clinical Lead of the Cooperative Trials Group for Neuro-Oncology – COGNO. Both are also Chief Investigators on a recently awarded $1.98 million MRFF grant for the LUMOS trial: Low and Anaplastic Grade Glioma Umbrella Study of Molecular Guided Therapies. This represents a landmark collaboration between MoST and COGNO to further improve brain cancer outcomes.

Dr Subotheni Thavaneswaran & Dr Hao-Wen Sim