Dr. Gounder received a Conquer Cancer Career Development Award (CDA) in 2012, supported by the Sarcoma Foundation of America.
AT MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING Cancer Center, Mrinal M. Gounder, MD, led the first randomized, global trial for patients with desmoid tumors, a rare type of sarcoma.
The trial: Patients with unresectable progressive desmoid tumors randomly received either a placebo or sorafenib.
The results: Tumors did not progress for 1 year in twice as many patients who received treatment compared to those who received the placebo.
The impact: This study is particularly important because it is the first of its kind and there is little information available on desmoid tumors. Because there are so few patients with desmoid tumors, which sometimes shrink even without systemic treatment, managing a trial at all has been a challenge for doctors. Before this trial, patients with desmoid tumors were often given off-label treatments. The work of nine researchers who have received funding from Conquer Cancer is featured in ASCO’s Clinical Cancer Advances 2019. Visit CONQUER.ORG/CCA for more details. ■
© 2019. American Society of Clinical Oncology. All rights reserved.
