
Around 1 in 5 people diagnosed with cancer in the UK take part in a clinical trial.
This trial looked at anastrozole for women’s cancers that have come back or spread elsewhere in the body. This is recurrent or advanced cancer.
It was for women:
Cancer Research UK supported this trial.
The trial was open for women to join between 2012 and 2016. The researchers presented the results at a conference in 2018.
Some cancer cells need hormones to grow. The cancer may stop growing if it is possible to block the amount of hormone reaching the cancer cell. Hormone therapy can block hormones reaching hormone receptors on cancer cells. Doctors need to test the cancer cells to see if the cancer has hormone receptors.
This trial included women who had 1 of the following types of cancer:
Women were put into treatment groups depending on the type of cancer they had.
Doctors wanted to see if a hormone therapy drug called anastrozole could control these cancers for longer.
The aims of trial were to:
The trial team have reported some of the results of the PARAGON trial. The main findings so far are:
About this trial
338 women took part in total. They were put into groups depending on the type of cancer they had.
The groups were as follows:
Currently, results are available for:
The women had anastrozole for as long as it was working, and the side effects weren’t too bad.
Results for women who had womb cancer (Group B)
82 women joined this part of the trial. The trial team looked at how well treatment worked after 12 weeks of anastrozole.
They found in:
The researchers looked at the number of women whose cancer stayed the same or got a bit better. They called this having a clinical benefit. The researchers worked out that this was just over 4 out of 10 women (44%).
The average length of time before the cancer started to grow again was 3.2 months.
Quality of life
Women filled in during treatment. The questionnaires asked about:
At 3 months, women reported a better quality of life if anastrozole was helping them. For example, they had less pain and appetite loss.
Side effects
The side effects were as expected, and most were mild. The most common were:
Results for women who had a granulosa cell tumour of the ovary (group E)
This part of the trial included women who had a granulosa cell tumour of the ovary that had spread or come back after treatment.
41 women joined this part of the trial. The trial team looked at how well treatment worked after 12 weeks of anastrozole. They looked at whose cancer got better or stayed the same. They had the results for 40 women.
They found in:
The researchers worked out that anastrozole helped 8 out of 10 women (80%). They say these women had a clinical benefit.
They also looked at how long women lived before their cancer got worse. This was 8.6 months on average.
At 6 months the cancer:
1 woman continued to have treatment for 15 months and 1 woman had it for 53 months.
Quality of life
They didn’t look at quality of life in this group of women.
Side effects
The side effects were mild. The only severe side effect was joint pain. And 1 woman had to stop treatment as a result.
Main conclusions of PARAGON so far
Womb cancer (group B)
The trial team concluded that at 3 months, anastrozole helped just under half of these women. The side effects were acceptable and it improved quality of life.
Granulosa cell tumour of the ovary (group E)
The trial team concluded that anastrozole helped to keep the cancer under control for a little bit. But the tumours didn’t shrink as much as they had hoped. The side effects were mild.
We hope to be able to summarise the results of other groups when they become available.
All trial results help doctors and researchers understand more about different cancers and the best way to treat them.
Where these results come from
We have based this summary on information from the research team. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists () but may not have been published in a medical journal. 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.
Dr Richard Edmondson
AstraZeneca
Cancer Research UK
Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC)
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
NHR Clinical Research Network: Cancer
University of Glasgow
This is Cancer Research UK trial number CRUK/10/056
If you have questions about the trial please contact our cancer information nurses
Freephone 0808 800 4040
Around 1 in 5 people diagnosed with cancer in the UK take part in a clinical trial.