Inside Precision Medicine: Immunotherapy boosts head & neck cancer treatment
Inside Precision Medicine recently featured a clinical trial led by the University of Cincinnati's Trisha Wise-Draper, MD.
Wise-Draper, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology in UC’s College of Medicine, Head and Neck Center of Excellence co-leader, medical director of the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center Clinical Trials Office and Lab and a UC Health physician, recently published research showing that adding immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab to the standard of care for head and neck cancer patients increased survival rates for intermediate risk patients.
Wise-Draper told Inside Precision Medicine the "high pathological response rate just after 1 dose of treatment and the survival benefit associated" was a surprising result of the study. In more than 50% of the patients, the drug caused the tumor to die before surgical resection—a much higher response than had been shown in previous studies of recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer. Within this group, 100% of the patients were disease-free at one year.
“It was a really strong predictor of patients who are going to do well on this treatment,” Wise-Draper said. “Hopefully that is going to help us design trials to better understand who is going to respond and who is not.”
Read the Inside Precision Medicine story.
Wise-Draper's research was also featured in a Pharmacy Times article. Read the Pharmacy Times article.
Featured photo at top courtesy of UC Health.
Related Stories
Sugar overload killing hearts
November 10, 2025
Two in five people will be told they have diabetes during their lifetime. And people who have diabetes are twice as likely to develop heart disease. One of the deadliest dangers? Diabetic cardiomyopathy. But groundbreaking University of Cincinnati research hopes to stop and even reverse the damage before it’s too late.
Is going nuclear the solution to Ohio’s energy costs?
November 10, 2025
The Ohio Capital Journal recently reported that as energy prices continue to climb, economists are weighing the benefits of going nuclear to curb costs. The publication dove into a Scioto Analysis survey of 18 economists to weigh the pros and cons of nuclear energy. One economist featured was Iryna Topolyan, PhD, professor of economics at the Carl H. Lindner College of Business.
App turns smartwatch into detector of structural heart disease
November 10, 2025
An app that uses an AI model to read a single-lead ECG from a smartwatch can detect structural heart disease, researchers reported at the 2025 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association. Although the technology requires further validation, researchers said it could help improve the identification of patients with heart failure, valvular conditions and left ventricular hypertrophy before they become symptomatic, which could improve the prognosis for people with these conditions.