Clinical trials at Wilmot aim to improve treatment for cervical cancer

A century ago, cervical cancer ranked as one of the deadliest cancers among women. Today, cure rates are high — around 90 percent — for these cancers found in the early to middle stages. Advanced cases, however, are much harder to treat, and Wilmot researchers want to find better options.

Wilmot has several clinical trials open testing new therapies for cervical cancers.

“Metastatic cervical cancers are notoriously hard to treat with chemotherapy and mostly incurable. That’s why new treatments are needed and why we have these clinical trials open,” says Richard Moore, M.D., F.A.C.O.G., F.A.C.S., director of Wilmot’s Gynecologic Oncology Division and director of the Targeted Therapeutics Laboratory for Gynecologic Cancers.

Some are of these trials are looking at new combinations of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Some are exploring other possibilities, too, such as targeted therapies or immunotherapy.

“For all cancers in general, we’re at a very exciting point in time and the science of treating cancers with the genetics and the understanding of the gene and molecular expressions of cancers,” he says. “We are not only understanding but able to take advantage of those targets. In the past, we understood but didn’t have drugs to target. Now we have more and more drugs coming out every month to target. We’ll make small steps forward and we’ll keep doing that and things will get better.”

There are currently five clinical trials specific to cervical cancer available at Wilmot. Learn more about them and other clinical trials on our Clinical Trials page.