# InterAACT

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

## TL;DR

InterAACT was the first randomised trial ever run in advanced anal cancer; the two chemotherapy pairs shrank tumours equally often, but carboplatin with paclitaxel caused far fewer serious side effects and patients on it lived longer, so it became the standard chemotherapy backbone.

## Summary

InterAACT was an international randomised phase 2 trial of the International Rare Cancers Initiative, led from the Royal Marsden with ECOG-ACRIN, AGITG and EORTC partners, in 91 patients with chemotherapy-naive advanced anal squamous cell carcinoma randomised to cisplatin plus fluorouracil or carboplatin plus weekly paclitaxel. The primary endpoint was best overall response rate by 24 weeks.

Response rates were the same (57 against 59 percent), but serious adverse events were more frequent with cisplatin-fluorouracil (62 against 36 percent), median progression-free survival was 5.7 against 8.1 months and median overall survival 12.3 against 20 months (hazard ratio 2.00 for cisplatin-fluorouracil). Carboplatin-paclitaxel became the reference regimen and the chemotherapy backbone of POD1UM-303, which is how the corpus's metastatic anal cancer page cites it.

## Fields

- Kind: Trial
- Status: positive
- Last checked: 2026-09-22
- Also known as: InterAAct; IRCI InterAACT; EA2133
- Tags: soc-trials
- Registry id: NCT02051868
- Phase: 2
- Setting: Chemotherapy-naive inoperable locally recurrent or metastatic anal squamous cell carcinoma at 60 centres through the International Rare Cancers Initiative: cisplatin plus fluorouracil against carboplatin plus weekly paclitaxel, with best overall response rate by 24 weeks as the primary endpoint
- Sponsor: Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
- Enrolled: 91
- Result: Response rate 57 percent with cisplatin-fluorouracil against 59 percent with carboplatin-paclitaxel; serious adverse events 62 against 36 percent; median overall survival 12.3 against 20 months (hazard ratio 2.00, p 0.014).
- Outcomes: Best overall response rate by 24 weeks: Carboplatin + weekly paclitaxel 59% vs Cisplatin + fluorouracil 57%; Overall survival: Carboplatin + weekly paclitaxel 20 months vs Cisplatin + fluorouracil 12.3 months, HR 2; Progression-free survival: Carboplatin + weekly paclitaxel 8.1 months vs Cisplatin + fluorouracil 5.7 months; Serious adverse events: Carboplatin + weekly paclitaxel 36% vs Cisplatin + fluorouracil 62%

## Sources

- ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02051868: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT02051868
- ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02560298: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT02560298

## Connected records

- cancers: [Anal cancer (squamous cell carcinoma)](https://onco.cc/cancers/anal/), [Metastatic and recurrent anal squamous cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/metastatic-anal-cancer/)
- technologies: [Cytotoxic chemotherapy](https://onco.cc/technologies/cytotoxic-chemotherapy/)
- drugs: [Carboplatin](https://onco.cc/drugs/carboplatin/), [Cisplatin](https://onco.cc/drugs/cisplatin/), [Fluorouracil (5-FU)](https://onco.cc/drugs/fluorouracil/), [Paclitaxel / nab-paclitaxel](https://onco.cc/drugs/paclitaxel/)
- institutions: [ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group](https://onco.cc/institutions/ecog-acrin/), [The Royal Marsden](https://onco.cc/institutions/royal-marsden/)
- key papers: [InterAACT: cisplatin and fluorouracil versus carboplatin and paclitaxel in advanced anal cancer](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-interaact-carboplatin-paclitaxel-advanced-anal-cancer-rao-jco-2020/)

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