Ohio State’s clinical trials are connecting patients with groundbreaking cancer treatment while helping doctors provide cutting-edge care to others around the world. “I like to say that patients at The James have access to tomorrow’s therapies today,” says David O’Malley, MD, the director of The James Division of Gynecologic Oncology and Co-Director of the Gynecologic Oncology Phase I Program. That access enables Ohio State patients to benefit from the latest research from The James’ world-class cancer experts, including O’Malley’s team, which is currently conducting a clinical trial that utilizes a combination of two immunotherapy agents to treat women with advanced or recurrent cervical cancer. In the past, there were limited treatment options for these patients. O’Malley goes in-depth on immunotherapy and cervical cancer care on our Cancer-Free World Podcast. Listen via the video player above, and subscribe on SoundCloud. The first drug, balstilimab, allows patients’ immune systems to recognize cancer cells that had previously been able to camouflage themselves. The second drug, zalifrelimab, helps the body’s “tired” immune cells “reinvigorate themselves to better get to and fight cancer,” O’Malley explains. “We tripled the response rates,” O’Malley says of the James-led, Phase 2 clinical trial of 125 patients. “And, not only were there better rates, but the durability is more pronounced — when I look at patients two years out, they’re still responding.” The advances made possible by immunotherapy agents and clinical trials are accelerating at a rapid rate, which has O’Malley feeling optimistic about the future. “We’re in an unprecedented time for cancer treatment and drug development,” he says. “I’m seeing things today I really didn’t think I’d live to see.”