Osteosarcoma is a rare bone cancer that most often affects teenagers and young adults, typically forming near the growth plates in the arm or leg. Standard treatment combines chemotherapy and surgery, and about 70% of people with localized disease survive long-term. Research focuses on improving outcomes for metastatic disease and tumors that don't respond well to chemotherapy.
What's actually going on in research
Trials are testing immunotherapies including checkpoint inhibitors and CAR T-cell therapy, newer chemotherapy combinations to overcome resistance, and targeted drugs against specific mutations found in some osteosarcomas. Researchers are also studying mifamurtide, an immune stimulant approved in Europe but not yet in the US, and ways to predict which tumors will respond poorly to standard treatment.
Immunotherapy approaches
Checkpoint inhibitors like pembrolizumab are being tested in osteosarcoma that has spread or returned. Researchers are also engineering CAR T-cells to target proteins on osteosarcoma cells.
Chemotherapy optimization
Trials are testing whether adding drugs like regorafenib or sorafenib to standard chemotherapy improves outcomes. Other studies look at intensified chemotherapy schedules for high-risk patients.
Tumor profiling
Studies are mapping the genetic changes in osteosarcomas to identify targetable mutations. This may lead to personalized treatment based on each tumor's molecular features.
What to know before you search
Eligibility typically depends on whether the cancer is newly diagnosed or recurrent, whether it has spread to the lungs or other sites, and how the tumor responded to prior chemotherapy.
What types of trials are currently open
- Chemotherapy trials — Testing new drug combinations or schedules, often comparing them to standard regimens of methotrexate, doxorubicin, and cisplatin.
- Immunotherapy trials — Testing checkpoint inhibitors, CAR T-cells, or other immune-based treatments for osteosarcoma that has spread or returned after standard therapy.
- Targeted therapy trials — Testing drugs aimed at specific mutations or proteins found in some osteosarcomas, such as drugs targeting mTOR or growth factor pathways.
- Surgery timing trials — Studying the optimal timing and extent of surgery in relation to chemotherapy to maximize limb preservation and survival.
- Biomarker studies — Collecting tumor and blood samples to identify which patients are most likely to benefit from specific treatments.
Recently added Osteosarcoma trials
Medical Payment Case Management for Financial Toxicity in Patients With Primary Bone Tumors: A Randomized Controlled Trial
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if adding a medical payment case management service to the hospital's usual follow-up care can reduce the financial hardship of cancer treatment in patients of any age, including children and teenagers, who have a primary bone tumor and are scheduled to have surgery at Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital. It will also learn whether the service lowers the number of families who spend a large share of their yearly income on medical care. The main questions it aims to answer are: Does the service improve patients' scores on a questionnaire that measures financial hardship (the COST-FACIT) from the start of the study to 6 months later? Does the service lower the number of families whose out-of-pocket medical costs reach 10% or more of the family's yearly income? The study will enroll 124 patients, randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to two groups of 62: Payment service group: patients receive the hospital's usual follow-up care, plus help from a dedicated payment specialist (called a Co-Pay Navigator). Control group: patients receive the hospital's usual follow-up care only. They can still ask the hospital about payment questions at any time. Researchers will compare the two groups to see if the payment service reduces financial hardship. Both groups receive the whole-course patient management program of the hospital's Comprehensive Oncology Center (COC), which includes: Reminders to return for scheduled check-ups, with alerts if a check-up is missed A record of their medications, with reminders to take them as prescribed Questionnaires they fill in through the program, which the system checks for warning signs that a case manager then follows up Patient education materials about the disease and about follow-up care Online access to a case manager for questions at any time All participants will also: Answer short questionnaires about their family's medical costs at the start of the study and again about 3, 6, 9, and 12 months later, on a mobile phone and with help from the study staff if needed Have a parent or other family member who helps care for them answer a short questionnaire about the strain of caregiving Participants in the payment service group will also work with a Co-Pay Navigator, who: Reviews the family's insurance coverage and out-of-pocket costs Explains which payment programs the family may be able to use: basic medical insurance, critical illness insurance, supplemental medical insurance, charity programs, drug company assistance programs, social assistance, and fundraising Helps the family apply for these programs and follows the applications Reviews the hospital bill when the patient leaves the hospital Checks in every three months to update the family's payment plan Taking part does not involve extra clinic visits, blood tests, or study drugs, and the study does not change any medical treatment.
Treatment Patterns and Survival Outcomes in High-Grade Osteosarcoma: A Multicenter Retrospective Study
This is a multicenter, medical-record-based, retrospective observational study of approximately 400 patients with high-grade osteosarcoma treated at four sites in the Republic of Korea. The study describes treatment patterns and survival outcomes (event-free survival \[EFS\], progression-free survival \[PFS\], and overall survival \[OS\]) in patients who completed or discontinued first-line treatment for high-grade osteosarcoma, irrespective of complete remission status. The primary objective is to retrospectively estimate the 12-month EFS rate, calculated from the date of diagnosis, in the full cohort of high-grade osteosarcoma patients. Key secondary objectives evaluate EFS and OS from the date of confirmed complete remission/no evidence of disease (CR/NED) in the subset of clinically high-risk patients who achieve CR/NED, in order to establish a historical reference data supporting the design and interpretation of a future prospective clinical trial of vactosertib as maintenance therapy.
Find Osteosarcoma trials matched specifically to you
Answer 3 quick questions and we'll show you trials that fit your situation.