A Season for Science
Autumn is proving to be a productive season for reporting primary results of SWOG trials!
S1912CD: Financial navigation intervention
SWOG’s S1417CD trial, published in 2022, made clear how prevalent major financial hardship becomes for patients following a diagnosis of advanced cancer. The subsequent S1912CD CREDIT trial asked whether a proactive financial navigation intervention could reduce the risk of such hardship for these patients. Study chair Veena Shankaran, MD, has just reported S1912CD results at the ASCO Quality Care Symposium in Boston (findings that were highlighted in the meeting’s press program).
The study randomized 329 patients with advanced cancer to either a financial literacy video alone or the video plus a six-month financial navigation program designed to help with money concerns. The study team found the financial navigation program did not significantly decrease patients’ risk – at 12 months, about one-half of patients on each arm experienced financial hardship. The data suggest the S1912CD intervention was most beneficial for patients who entered the study with greater financial and social capacity (e.g., emergency funds, higher education, …). The study team is now investigating the association between adherence to the program and patient outcomes.
Two other important SWOG abstracts were also presented at the Boston meeting:
- SWOG’s patient advocate committee co-chair Barbara Segarra-Vazquez, DHSc, reported on the impact of that committee’s innovative Pitch the PAC program, which brings lived patient experience from multiple perspectives to inform clinical trial design at the earliest stages of concept development.
- SWOG biostatistician Joseph M. Unger, PhD, presented work analyzing the association of sociodemographic, geographic, and health factors with patient survival outcomes across multiple clinical trials. The analysis indicated that these factors explained more than one-half of the prognostic information associated with overall survival across randomized oncology trials.
S2200 PAPMET2: Adding atezolizumab in papillary mRCC
The follow-on to our S1500 PAPMET trial has just reported out. First results from the S2200 (PAPMET2) trial, presented by study chair Benjamin Maughan, MD, at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Annual Congress in Madrid, indicate that adding atezolizumab to cabozantinib improved progression-free survival in patients with metatstatic papillary renal cell carcinoma.
Although the trial closed early due to slow accrual, with 33 patients randomized, the demonstrated PFS improvement (the trial's primary endpoint) is statistically significant. Overall survival, a secondary endpoint, was not improved by the addition of atezolizumab.
S1937: Eribulin + gemcitabine in urothelial carcinoma
Also at the ESMO Congress 2026, Sarmad Sadeghi, MD, PhD, reported results of the S1937 trial in patients with previously treated metastatic urothelial carcinoma refractory to or ineligible for anti-PD/PDL1 therapy. Patients were randomized to either eribulin plus gemcitabine or physician’s choice standard of care, with overall survival as the primary endpoint.
At the first interim analysis, S1937 was closed due to futility. A total of 121 patients had been randomized. Trial data showed median overall survival was similar across both arms, with a higher rate of grade 3-4 adverse events on the investigational arm.
S1823: miR371 biomarker in germ-cell tumors
Early results of this trial had been reported at other 2026 meetings, but in Madrid, Lucia Nappi, MD, PhD, presented final results of the S1823 (aka GCC.1) trial.
That trial enrolled patients newly diagnosed with testicular germ-cell tumors. In an analysis of data from 631 patients, the study team found that plasma levels of miR371 (a non-coding microRNA) were a highly accurate indicator of germ-cell tumor relapse in patients with early-stage disease on active surveillance, with the authors noting that miR371 level outperformed current conventional diagnostic tools.
SWOG now has autumnal momentum, and we have other major meetings still to come this fall. We’ll keep you apprised as other results are presented!
Leaders Wanted
SWOG has top leadership openings in three research committees. We're looking for accomplished, dynamic investigators to provide scientific and strategic leadership as chair or co-chair for each of these committees:
Successful candidates will bring nationally recognized expertise, a strong record of clinical and translational research, and the leadership skills necessary to guide a vibrant, multidisciplinary community of investigators within a leading NCTN/NCORP research group.
To learn more about these opportunities, follow the links above or visit our Careers page.
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