INTERLACE
Six weeks of cheap, generic chemotherapy before standard chemoradiation cut deaths by 40%, an advance usable anywhere in the world.
5-year PFS 72% vs 64% (HR 0.65) and 5-year OS 80% vs 72% (HR 0.60; Lancet 2024). Median follow-up 67 months across 32 centres in five countries including India and Mexico. Now an accepted option alongside KEYNOTE-A18, and the pragmatic choice where pembrolizumab is unaffordable.
Setting
Locally advanced cervical cancer: 6 weeks of induction carboplatin-paclitaxel before chemoradiation vs chemoradiation alone
Phase
Phase 3
Sponsor
UCL Cancer Trials Centre / CRUK
Registry
Headline result
5-year OS 80% vs 72% (HR 0.60); PFS HR 0.65.
Reported
2023
Enrolled
500
Replication
Earlier neoadjuvant chemotherapy trials before surgery (EORTC 55994) were negative; INTERLACE's short weekly induction before radiation is a distinct strategy not yet reproduced.
In plain words
What these results mean for people, not percentages
Progression-free survival at 5 yearsprimarysurrogate endpoint
- 72 vs 64 out of 100 alive without the cancer growing at 5 years with Induction chemo + CRT compared with CRT alone; 8 more per 100.
- Roughly one extra person helped for every 13 treated. That is a rough figure taken from the two percentages, not a guarantee for any one person.
- Put another way, the treated group had about 35 percent lower chance of the event at any given time (hazard ratio 0.65, likely range 0.46 to 0.91).
- This is a surrogate endpoint: it measures the cancer being controlled or absent on scans and tests, which often, but not always, translates into living longer.
Overall survival at 5 yearsprimarysurvival endpoint
- 80 vs 72 out of 100 alive at 5 years with Induction chemo + CRT compared with CRT alone; 8 more per 100.
- Roughly one extra person helped for every 13 treated. That is a rough figure taken from the two percentages, not a guarantee for any one person.
- Put another way, the treated group had about 40 percent lower chance of the event at any given time (hazard ratio 0.6, likely range 0.4 to 0.91).
- Overall survival counts deaths from any cause, so it is the most direct measure of whether a treatment helps people live longer.
Be careful
- These results apply to the people the trial enrolled: Locally advanced cervical cancer: 6 weeks of induction carboplatin-paclitaxel before chemoradiation vs chemoradiation alone. People in a different situation may not see the same effect.
Numbers are from the trial as recorded here; see the source links in the table below. This is orientation, not medical advice: ask your team how closely the trial population matches you.
500 participants enrolled.
Progression-free survival at 5 yearsprimary
HR 0.65 (0.46–0.91)
Induction chemo + CRT72 of 100
n = 250
CRT alone64 of 100
n = 250
Overall survival at 5 yearsprimary
HR 0.6 (0.4–0.91)
Induction chemo + CRT80 of 100
CRT alone72 of 100
| Endpoint | Arm | n | Value | HR (95% CI) | p | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Progression-free survival at 5 yearsprimary | Induction chemo + CRT | 250 | 72% | 0.65 (0.46–0.91) | — | link |
| CRT alone | 250 | 64% | ||||
| Overall survival at 5 yearsprimary | Induction chemo + CRT | — | 80% | 0.6 (0.4–0.91) | — | link |
| CRT alone | — | 72% |
Replication
Earlier neoadjuvant chemotherapy trials before surgery (EORTC 55994) were negative; INTERLACE's short weekly induction before radiation is a distinct strategy not yet reproduced.