2014 ESMO Congress
Radiotherapy Should Be Added to Hormone Therapy in Node-Positive Prostate Cancer
Node-positive prostate cancer has typically been excluded from clinical trials, leaving oncologists with little evidence to guide management for this group of patients. A study presented at the Europe...
Long-Term Results of COU-AA-302 Confirm Abiraterone Benefit
Final results of the COU-AA-302 trial continue to support the survival benefit of abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) in men with chemotherapy-naive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, often ref...
Local Treatments Fail to Improve Survival in Mesothelioma
The prognosis for malignant pleural mesothelioma remains dim, despite attempts to intensify treatment in the phase II SAKK 17/04 trial and other studies. The results of SAKK 17/04, presented at the 20...
Women Underrepresented in Oncology Leadership Positions, Greek Survey Shows
A growing number of oncologists in Greece are female, but women continue to be underrepresented in leadership positions, according to a survey reported at the ESMO 2014 Congress. “In Greece, and acro...
Novel Oral Agent Treats Cachexia in Patients With Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
For the first time, studies show that a drug is effective in treating several domains of cancer-related cachexia. Oral anamorelin increased lean body mass, achieved weight gain, and improved quality o...
Nivolumab Yields ‘Impressive’ Duration of Response as Late-Line Melanoma Treatment
Nivolumab yielded an “impressive” duration of response when used as second- or third-line treatment for patients with advanced melanoma, according to Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, of the Moffitt Cancer Center...
Practice-Changing Results at ESMO 2014
A record number of 19,859 attendees at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2014 Congress discussed changes to oncology that will soon have a positive impact on the care of patients around...
BRAF/MEK Inhibitor Combinations Impressive in Melanoma Trials
For advanced/metastatic melanoma patients with BRAF mutations, two pathway inhibitors are better than one, according to studies presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2014 Congr...
Encouraging Early Signals for Cediranib in Recurrent Cervical Cancer
Cediranib (a potent tyrosine kinase inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR)-1, -2, and -3) produced a modest improvement in progression-free survival and a robust improvement ...
CLEOPATRA: Survival With Dual HER2 Blockade ‘Unprecedented’
In the final overall survival analysis of the phase III CLEOPATRA trial, HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer patients lived 15.7 months longer if they received pertuzumab (Perjeta) in addition to t...
Adding Sorafenib to Capecitabine Fails to Improve Progression-Free Survival in Advanced Breast Cancer
In patients with locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer, the addition of sorafenib (Nexavar), a broad-spectrum tyrosine kinase inhibitor, to capecitabine did not improve progression-free or over...
Studies Evaluate Maintenance Bevacizumab in Metastatic Breast Cancer
Although bevacizumab (Avastin) may no longer be an active player in metastatic breast cancer, phase III studies presented at this year’s European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress reignited...
Moving Forward With Biomarkers in Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
The effort to identify new biomarkers for response and outcomes in lung cancer is advancing, according to studies presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2014 Congress in Madrid....
Emerging Drugs Effectively Tackle Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer Mutations
For advanced nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), targeting of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation and the ALK abnormality has become an established strategy. Later-generat...
Single-Agent Carfilzomib, Compared to Corticosteroids Plus Cyclophosphamide, Fails to Improve Survival in Myeloma
Carfilzomib (Kyprolis), as a single agent, failed to improve survival in relapsed and refractory myeloma patients, as compared with a corticosteroid and optional cyclophosphamide, in the phase III FOC...
Pazopanib Improves Progression-Free Survival in Advanced Pretreated GIST
Patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) can achieve remission on tyrosine kinase inhibitors, but almost all of them eventually develop resistance to these agents. The PAZOGIST trial resul...
Genomic Score Predicts Aggressiveness of Prostate Cancer in Biopsy Specimens
A prospectively designed study establishes the17-gene Oncotype DX prostate cancer test as a robust and independent predictor of the aggressiveness of prostate cancer based on a patient’s diagnostic sp...
Clinically Relevant Survival Benefit Seen for Everolimus in Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors
Final results from the RADIANT-3 trial showed a 6-month difference in overall survival favoring everolimus (Afinitor) plus best supportive care over placebo plus best supportive care in patients with ...
Oral Rivaroxaban Has Efficacy Similar to Enoxaparin Plus Vitamin K Antagonist in Preventing Recurrent Venous Thromboembolism
In a subgroup analysis of the pooled results of the EINSTEIN-DVT and EINSTEIN-PE trials reported at the 2014 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2014 Congress and published recently in The La...
QUASAR2 Final Analysis: Bevacizumab Still of No Value in Adjuvant Treatment of Colorectal Cancer
The final analysis of the international phase III QUASAR2 trial confirmed the lack of benefit for bevacizumab (Avastin) as part of the adjuvant treatment of colorectal cancer. “There is no role for be...
Phase III Study Confirms Regorafenib’s Survival Benefit in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
The phase III CONCUR trial1 of regorafenib (Stivarga) monotherapy in Asian patients with previously treated metastatic colorectal cancer confirmed the overall survival benefit seen in the previous CO...
European Studies Explore Maintenance Strategies for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
Studies presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2014 Congress in Madrid added insight regarding maintenance therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer, an area lacking a clear recom...
All-RAS Testing in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: Just the First Step
Now that clinicians know to “think beyond KRAS” in metastatic colorectal cancer—and test for all RAS mutations, not just those in exon 2—it seems this is still not sufficient for selecting the best dr...
IMPRESS Trial: Lung Cancer Progression on First-Line Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Indicates the Drug Should Be Stopped
The IMPRESS trial found no benefit for continuing treatment with the epidermal growth factor receptor (EFGR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor gefitinib (Iressa, discontinued in the United States) plus chemot...
Shaji K. Kumar, MD, on Multiple Myeloma: Treatment Update
Kathrine Rugbjerg, PhD, on Adolescents and Young Adult Survivors: Late Effects
Angela M. Stover, PhD, on Patient-Reported Symptoms: Results From the STAR and PRO-TECT Trials
Matthew J. Ellis, MB, BChir, PhD, on Breast Cancer: Neoadjuvant Endocrine Therapy
Jeremy Warner, MD, on Patient Navigation: Weathering the Storm of Cancer Care
