Current Clinical Studies

Cis-Topo Study
The purpose of this study is to determine whether two approved chemotherapy drugs (cisplatin and topotecan) used together over a 9-18 week period can lead to significant shrinking of locally advanced cancers of the cervix and/or vulva. This study will help determine if the use of a neoadjuvant therapy can achieve a reduction in tumor volume which will facilitate radical local surgical treatment. If the cancer is reduced in size the surgery results to remove all or most of the cancer may be improved. If this happens it may avoid or limit the need for radiation therapy (or combined chemoradiation) which is currently recommended as the standard treatment for advanced cervical cancer. For patients with vulvar cancer, it may help avoid surgery that might involve more risks and require more tissue to be removed.

HAMPR
Many patients with gynecologic cancers (cancer of the female reproductive organs), although initially responsive to chemotherapy, eventually develop drug-resistance. Administration of therapies that reverse drug-resistance could prove useful in the management of gynecologic cancer patients. The purpose of this study is to determine whether use of two approved drugs (hydralazine and megestrol acetate) given by mouth at standard doses, used one after the other, can lead to a response or to stabilization of disease in women with advanced cancers of the ovary, peritoneum, uterus, fallopian tube, cervix, or vulva.