Winners of the ASTRO-Sumitomo Pharma-Pfizer Alliance new combination therapy challenge announced

(Press-News.org) ARLINGTON, Va., September 27, 2023 — The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) today announced the three winning research proposals for the 2022 ASTRO-Myovant Sciences (now known as Sumitomo Pharma)-Pfizer Alliance New Combination (Relugolix-Radiation) Therapy Challenge. The Challenge aims to identify research that addresses ways prostate cancer treatments can be improved with the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) receptor antagonist relugolix in patients who received radiation therapy.

The Challenge invited researchers to propose the study of relugolix in different scenarios: with definitive radiotherapy (concomitant/adjuvant/neoadjuvant) in patients with high/very high risk, unfavorable intermediate risk and locally advanced prostate cancer; with radiotherapy as salvage therapy following treatment with curative intent; as concomitant treatment with other oral oncolytics; for synchronous oligometastatic/metastatic and oligoprogressive disease; and beyond. Proposed studies could focus on a range of areas including clinical outcome evaluations, testosterone kinetics, patient-reported outcomes, safety/adverse events, compliance/adherence and translational research.

The Sumitomo Pharma-Pfizer Alliance will award up to a cumulative $2,500,000 in research funding, approximately $800,000 to each of the three winning proposals, over the next four to five years. The winning proposals and their principal investigators are:

“Quantifying Optimal Relugolix Duration with Radiation in High-Risk Prostate Cancer,” Xinglei Shen, MD, MS; University of Kansas Medical Center “A comparison of Orgovyx (relugolix) vs Eligard (leuprolide) on cardiovascular function and biomarkers during standard of care combined ADT (androgen deprivation therapy)-radiation for prostate cancer,” Shang-Jui Wang, MD, PhD; The Ohio State University “Phase III SUGAR Study: (SBRT and Ultrashort GnRH Antagonist‐Relugolix) for Clinicogenomic Unfavorable Intermediate Risk Prostate Cancer,” James Yu, MD, MHS, FASTRO; Yale School of Medicine Paul L. Nguyen, MD, Chair of the Challenge scientific advisory team noted, “We are thrilled to support these three outstanding submissions that will advance our understanding of how best to optimize the use of relugolix with radiation to improve outcomes for patients with prostate cancer. We are grateful that Sumitomo Pharma America, Inc. and Pfizer launched this effort with ASTRO to fund new research by radiation oncologists and our ASTRO members.”

A panel of ASTRO members with clinical, research, diversity and inclusion, and statistical expertise served on the Challenge’s scientific advisory team and judging panel to ensure that proposals were science-driven, identified the most promising research and were reviewed with an equity lens.

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ABOUT THE ASTRO SCIENTIFIC CHALLENGES PROGRAM
The ASTRO Advancing-Medicine-Together Scientific Challenges program seeks to introduce and catalyze new collaborative research opportunities for ASTRO members and to facilitate radiation oncology leadership in scientific discovery and engagement with industry partners. This program seeks to forge new collaborations, increase radiation oncology research funding, and enhance the visibility for radiation oncology researchers to demonstrate their scientific research capabilities and excellence. Funding awards for ASTRO’s inaugural scientific challenge are made possible through the Pfizer Global Medical Grants’ Investigator Sponsored Research program. More information about the ASTRO-Sumitomo Pharma-Pfizer Alliance New Combination Therapy Challenge can be found online.

ABOUT ASTRO
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) is the largest radiation oncology society in the world, with nearly 10,000 members who are physicians, nurses, biologists, physicists, radiation therapists, dosimetrists and other health care professionals who specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. For information on radiation therapy, visit RTAnswers.org. To learn more about ASTRO, visit our website and follow us on social media.

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