Clinical Trials Spotlight - DART

U-M Leads Enrollment for DART Trial

The Oncology CTSU is currently supporting a unique initial phase immunotherapy trial for rare cancers funded by the National Cancer Institute. Lead by Principal Investigator Mark Michael Zalupski, M.D., DART (Dual Anti-CTLA-4 and Anti¬-PD-1 Blockade in Rare Tumors) is a multisite trial that focuses on rare cancers, which make up more than 20% of cancers diagnosed worldwide, and include, but are not limited to, cancers in nerves, glands, bones, and skin.

At The University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, DART patients will be treated with two immunotherapy drugs--ipilimumab plus nivolumab--a combination treatment that helps the immune system fight cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the combination to treat melanoma, and it is currently being tested on a variety of lung cancers.

"Enrollments to clinical trials for rare cancer are often slow to achieve their targets, but accepted given the nature of such diseases," explains Mathew Innes, Lead Administrator for the Oncology CTSU. "The DART trial is an exception."

Annette Betley, the OCTSU's Lead Academic Participating Site Team Manager, shared, "At the recent SWOG (Southwest Oncology Group) Annual Meeting, The University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center was recognized with the highest enrollment among cancer centers nationally." 

To learn more about the immunotherapy trial, DART, click here.