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UC Irvine Health System

28/08/2024 | Press release | Archived content

Endometrial cancer patients to benefit from new FDA-approved treatment

Endometrial cancer patients to benefit from new FDA-approved treatment


August 28, 2024

IN THE NEWS: FDA approval of dostarlimab-gxly (Jemperli) in combination with chemotherapy will be a great benefit to patients with advanced endometrial cancer, said UCI Health gynecologic oncologist Dr. Krishnansu S. Tewari.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Aug. 1 gave priority approval to the Glaxo Smith Kline checkpoint inhibitor after the RUBY clinical trial showed a significant overall improvement in survival for patients with primary advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer, Tewari tells OncLive in an exclusive podcast.

"The RUBY trial shows that patients are living longer, not just that the cancer is being delayed, but that patients are living longer. That's a very powerful end point. The only thing better than overall survival is a cure.

"I have no doubt that whenever we see overall survival benefits among patients, there are going to be patients among that group who are going to be cured."

"Hopefully this decision will lead other regulatory agencies around the world to recognize the benefits and follow the FDA's lead."

In a separate podcast with OncLive, Tewari said artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning has the potential to greatly improve cancer diagnosis and treatment, but that human oversight will remain essential.

"AI was developed for applications outside of the world of medicine and was not designed [specifically] for medicine. We have to move carefully and cautiously so that we can integrate what we know about pathophysiology and even human behavior as we use AI more in the field of medicine."

Tewari is a professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and chief of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at the UC Irvine School of Medicine. His research has been funded by grants from the UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG). He was the principal investigator of GOG's first randomized trial for anti-angiogenesis drugs to treat cervical cancer. He also is the author of numerous book chapters and scientific articles for medical journals.

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