
Around 1 in 5 people diagnosed with cancer in the UK take part in a clinical trial.
This study looked at the dose of selumetinib that you can safely have with radiotherapy to treat non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
It was for people who had non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that was either:
Radiotherapy is a treatment for people with either stage 3 or stage 4 NSCLC. You might have radiotherapy at the same time as chemotherapy to try to cure your cancer (chemoradiotherapy). Or you may have it on its own to control symptoms if the cancer is more advanced.
In this study, doctors wanted to improve treatment for people with either stage 3 or 4 NSCLC. They combined radiotherapy with a drug called selumetinib (also known as AZD6244).
Selumetinib is a targeted cancer drug called a cancer growth blocker. It works by blocking certain proteins that tell cancer cells to divide and grow. Doctors wanted to know if selumetinib can slow down the growth of the cancer and help radiotherapy work better.
The aim of this study was to find the dose of selumetinib that people with NSCLC can safely have with radiotherapy.
The study team found a dose of selumetinib that people can safely have with radiotherapy. But this treatment didn’t help people as well as doctors had hoped for.
This was a phase 1 trial. The following people took part:
Everyone had the same dose of selumetinib twice a day, for 7 days. Then they started radiotherapy with selumetinib. This continued for about 6 and a half weeks.
The trial team looked at the most common side effects people had. They were:
Doctors also looked at the average amount of time people lived, after the start of treatment. This is called median survival. They found that on average, people lived for almost 10 months.
The trial team concluded that selumetinib with radiotherapy is a safe treatment. But this treatment doesn’t help people with either stage 3 or stage 4 NSCLC. The team doesn’t think more research should be done looking at this treatment.
We have based this summary on information from the research team. As far as we are aware, the information they sent us has not been reviewed independently () or published in a medical journal yet. The figures we quote above were provided by the research team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.
Please note: In order to join a trial you will need to discuss it with your doctor, unless otherwise specified.
Professor Corinne Faivre-Finn
AstraZeneca
Cancer Research UK
Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC)
The Christie NHS Foundation Trust
University of Manchester
Freephone 0808 800 4040
Around 1 in 5 people diagnosed with cancer in the UK take part in a clinical trial.