# ESCORT-1st

Source: https://onco.cc/trials/escort-1st/  
OnCo record `escort-1st` (Trial). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

ESCORT-1st is China's first-line immunotherapy trial for squamous oesophageal cancer, one of five that together made chemo-immunotherapy the global standard.

## Summary

ESCORT-1st, trial NCT03691090 sponsored by Jiangsu Hengrui and published in JAMA in 2021, is China's first-line immunotherapy trial for advanced oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma, one of five concordant trials that together made chemo-immunotherapy the global standard. It randomised 596 patients to camrelizumab or placebo with paclitaxel and cisplatin and met its primary overall survival endpoint, confirmed at the final analysis in 2024; camrelizumab is approved in China for the disease but not in the United States, and the later ESCORT-NEO trial showed neoadjuvant camrelizumab plus chemotherapy raises pathologic complete response in resectable disease. OnCo links it to oesophageal cancer, PD-1 as a target, camrelizumab, Jing Huang and Rui-Hua Xu. Whether Chinese PD-1 antibodies reach patients outside China for this indication is the open question.

## Fields

- Kind: Trial
- Status: positive
- Last checked: 2026-09-07
- Registry id: NCT03691090
- Phase: 3
- Setting: First-line advanced oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (China): camrelizumab + paclitaxel/cisplatin vs placebo + chemotherapy
- Sponsor: Jiangsu Hengrui
- Enrolled: 596
- Result: OS 15.3 vs 12.0 months, HR 0.70.
- Outcomes: Overall survival: Camrelizumab + chemotherapy 15.3 months vs Placebo + chemotherapy 12 months, HR 0.7
- Replication: One of five concordant first-line ESCC chemo-IO trials.

## Sources

- ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03691090: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03691090
- JAMA 2021: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2784143

## Connected records

- cancers: [Oesophageal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/esophageal/)
- technologies: [Immune checkpoint inhibitors](https://onco.cc/technologies/checkpoint-inhibitor/)
- targets: [PD-1](https://onco.cc/targets/pd1/)
- drugs: [Camrelizumab](https://onco.cc/drugs/camrelizumab/)
- companies: [Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals](https://onco.cc/companies/hengrui/)
- people: [Jing Huang](https://onco.cc/people/huang-jing-cams/), [Rui-Hua Xu](https://onco.cc/people/xu-rui-hua/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/escort-1st.json