The Osteosarcoma Institute to fund clinical trial in recurrent osteosarcoma at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center

February 27, 2020

The Osteosarcoma Institute (OSI) announced today that it has awarded a grant to Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center for a Phase II single arm study of olaparib (an FDA-approved PARP inhibitor) and ceralacertib/AZD6738 (an investigational ATR kinase inhibitor) in patients with recurrent osteosarcoma.

Both study drugs are orally-administered and are products of AstraZeneca which is supporting the trial by providing these agents. The trial also features important correlative biology studies to help understand what genomic characteristics and biomarkers can best predict patients who may respond to this regimen.

The trial will be led by Katherine A. Janeway, MD, MMSc, Senior Physician at Dana-Farber/Boston Children's and Director of Clinical Genomics at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. It is expected to open at both Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s and University of California, San Francisco this summer and at least one other institution in late 2020.

Janeway commented, “We are excited to be partnering with OSI and AstraZeneca to launch a trial of this drug combination in osteosarcoma. In this phase 2 trial of olaparin and ceralacertib, OSI is supporting a unique linkage between Dr. Sweet-Cordero’s basic science laboratory and our clinical trials group ensuring that we use every opportunity to advance our understanding of osteosarcoma.”

Osteosarcoma is the most common bone tumor among children, adolescents, and young adults and, unlike many other pediatric cancers, there has been no significant improvement in outcomes in the past 30 years. Effective new treatments are desperately needed for patients whose disease recurs after initial therapy.

About the Osteosarcoma Institute

The Osteosarcoma Institute (www.osinst.org, @OSInstitute), is a 501(c)(3) public charity formed in 2017 to dramatically improve treatments for osteosarcoma patients, particularly those with relapsed and metastatic disease. It funds pre-clinical research to gain understanding of the biology of osteosarcoma and clinical trials to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of potential new treatments.