Movember’s TIGER trial approaches recruitment milestone in global bid to tackle aggressive testicular cancer

Movember-funded scientists have reached a crucial milestone in a bid to discover the best way of treating men with aggressive testicular cancer.

The TIGER trial - a major international collaboration between research teams in the US, Europe and Australia – has almost completed recruitment.

Although testicular cancer is a highly treatable disease, unfortunately in around 20-30 per cent of men treated with chemotherapy, the disease returns and requires further treatment.

Researchers carrying out the TIGER study are aiming to answer the question once and for all of whether there is a difference in survival rates between men treated with conventional chemotherapy and those who receive high-dose chemotherapy combined with stem cell treatment.

The TIGER trial aimed to recruit 420 men and teenage boys from around the world to participate in the study.

Under this trial, patients are randomised to one of two treatment groups. One group receives conventional chemotherapy.The second group are given high-dose chemotherapy with a stem cell treatment.

Patients are then followed up for several years to compare the impact of these treatments on their overall survival.

As of this week, 389 men and boys – 230 from the EU, 147 from the US and 12 from Australia - have been recruited to take part, with the final trial participant expected to join by August 2022.

Sam Gledhill, Movember’s Global Director of Testicular Cancer, says: “This is a huge milestone – the TIGER trial is a complicated international effort which would never have happened if not for the support that Movember has provided to the European and Australian contribution.

“This trial aims to help researchers to better understand the underlying biology and optimal treatments for men who have already had chemotherapy for testicular cancer, but whose cancer returns.

“This is a rare outcome of an already rare disease, so it requires a truly international effort. Ultimately, the data generated by this important trial will tell clinicians what the optimal treatment is for these men who typically have much poorer outcomes than average.

“While the accrual completion is a significant milestone and deserves to be celebrated, we do need to wait a few more years for follow-up data to be acquired and the study data to be analysed.”

Funding for the TIGER trial has been provided by the National Cancer Institute in the US and Canada, as well as research bodies in France, UK, and Italy. The North American co-ordinating group for this study is the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology.

Movember’s role has been to provide funding to the sponsors of the study in Europe (a group called EORTC) and Australia (a group called ANZUP).