February 10, 2019 (View All Issues)
KEYNOTE-181: Pembrolizumab vs Chemotherapy in Second-Line Treatment of Advanced Esophageal Cancer
In the global phase III KEYNOTE-181 trial, pembrolizumab as second-line therapy for advanced esophageal cancer did not improve overall survival in the whole population, vs chemotherapy, but did improve survival for patients with strong expression of programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1),...
Progress With ALK Inhibitors: When Will We Consider ALK-Positive Lung Cancer a ‘Chronic Disease’?
As reported by Solomon et al in The Lancet Oncology1 and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, results from a global phase II study of the third-generation ALK inhibitor lorlatinib showed a high overall response rate and high intracranial response rate for patients with advanced ALK-positive...
Essential Elements of an Effective Clinical Trials System: Business and Mission
Clinical trials aimed to improve health and quality of life are the cornerstone of progress in medicine. Support comes from academic medical centers, philanthropy, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), industry, or combinations thereof. Clinical trials need to be hypothesis-driven and address...
Andecaliximab in Untreated Gastric or Gastroesophageal Junction Cancer
The large phase III GAMMA-1 trial failed to replicate the encouraging findings from a previous smaller study of andecaliximab plus chemotherapy in untreated HER2-negative gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma, according to Manish A. Shah, MD, of Weill Cornell Medicine/New York...
First-Line Trastuzumab Plus Pembrolizumab Shows Efficacy in Patients With Metastatic Esophagogastric Cancer
When added to first-line chemotherapy in patients with untreated metastatic HER2-positive esophageal, gastroesophageal junction, and gastric adenocarcinoma, the combination of pembrolizumab and trastuzumab produced responses in 87% of patients, with 100% of patients experiencing disease control and ...
Selected Abstracts From the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium
Each year, The ASCO Post asks Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, Director of the Breast Oncology Program at Taussig Cancer Institute and Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, to offer his picks for the most important research presented at the 2018 San Antonio Breast...
Small Differences Found in Breast Cancer Recurrence With Partial-Breast vs Whole-Breast Irradiation
Partial-breast irradiation delivered over 5 to 10 days did not meet noninferiority criteria compared with whole-breast irradiation given over 5 to 7 weeks, according to 10-year results of the large NRG (NSABP B-39/RTOG 0413) trial presented at the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.1 However, ...
Luspatercept May Reduce the Need for Transfusion in Lower-Risk Myelodysplastic Syndromes
In the randomized, double-blind, phase III MEDALIST trial, the experimental drug luspatercept significantly reduced the need for frequent red blood cell transfusions in patients with lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and ring sideroblasts. With luspatercept, 37.9% remained transfusion-free ...
Multiple Myeloma Pipeline Filled With CAR T-Cell Therapies
The burgeoning pipeline of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies targeting B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) in multiple myeloma was on full display at the 2018 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition. A bispecific antibody also made its debut in this busy...
Data Mount for Venetoclax as Add-on Therapy in Acute Myeloid Leukemia
The benefit of adding venetoclax to a hypomethylating agent or low-dose cytarabine in the front-line treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) was evident from a number of studies reported at the 2018 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition (see Table 1). For elderly...
Clinical Cancer Advances 2019: ASCO Names Advance of the Year, Debuts Research Priorities for the Cancer Community
In the release of its annual report on progress against cancer, Clinical Cancer Advances 2019, ASCO recognized progress in treating rare cancers as the Advance of the Year. The report catalogs a year’s worth of remarkable research advancements, reinforces the need for continued federal research...
Leave a Legacy of Hope
By including a planned gift to ASCO’s Conquer Cancer Foundation in your estate plans, you can help make a dramatic difference for patients with cancer years—even decades—into the future.
With just one small change to your will or trust, your planned gift of any size will deliver a big impact,...
New ASCO Answers Fact Sheet: When the Doctor Says ‘Cancer’
People diagnosed with cancer often say they were stunned when they heard the news of their diagnosis, and were unable to process what their health-care provider said afterward. Give your patients easy-to-understand information they can take home with them. When the Doctor Says “Cancer” is a 1-page...
New JOP Article Highlights Challenges Oncologists Face Due to a Lack of Interoperability, and How CancerLinQ® Can Help
A new article in the Journal of Oncology Practice (JOP)1 looks at how ASCO’s commitment to CancerLinQ® can lead to improvements in the interoperability of electronic health records (EHRs). The article, by Wendy S. Rubinstein, MD, PhD, FACP, FACMG, Deputy Medical Director of CancerLinQ LLC,...
Taking a Stand: How ASCO Develops Policy Guidance and Position Statements
As a global thought leader in the spheres of cancer care and research, ASCO recognizes the importance of taking a position on certain key issues affecting its members and the patients they serve. As a result, ASCO will, on occasion, release policy guidance and position statements when existing...
New Standards for Safe Handling of Hazardous Drugs Focus on Developing Evidence-Based Measures
ASCO recently published standards on the safe handling of hazardous drugs in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.1 ASCO’s standards largely endorse best practices issued by other stakeholder groups for safely handling hazardous drugs but offer alternatives in several key areas where more research is...
Integrative Oncology Scholars Program: Model for Evidence-Based Complementary Care
THE FIRST full year of educational training in the practice of complementary therapies is now underway at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor through its Integrative Oncology Scholars Program, which launched in 2017. The program, which is supported through a 5-year grant from the National...
NCCN Guidelines Exceed 10 Million Downloads in 2018
THE NATIONAL Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) announced that the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®) were downloaded more than 10 million times in 2018, marking a 26% increase over downloads in 2017. The NCCN Guidelines provide up-to-date recommendations for...
Novel Treatments of Myelodysplastic Syndromes
AS PART of The ASCO Post’s continued coverage of the 2018 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here is an update on seven different studies on new therapeutics in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Among the treatments highlighted here are the erythroid maturation...
Julian Schink, MD, Named Chief Medical Officer of CTCA
JULIAN SCHINK, MD, has been appointed Chief Medical Officer of Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA). As Chief Medical Officer for the comprehensive cancer care network, Dr. Schink will provide leadership and direction for its enterprise-wide clinical programs and will serve as a liaison...
V. Craig Jordan, OBE, PhD, DSc, FMedSci, Receives Reynold Spector Award in Clinical Pharmacology
V. CRAIG JORDAN, OBE, PhD, DSc, FMedSci, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, will receive the 2019 Reynold Spector Award in Clinical Pharmacology, during the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) Annual Meeting at Experimental Biology 2019 in...
How Turning ‘Cold’ Tumors Into ‘Hot’ Ones May Improve Response to Immunotherapy
The proliferation of immunotherapeutics in the treatment of cancer over the past decade has revolutionized the way many cancers are treated, especially lung cancer and melanoma, as well as some blood cancers, including leukemia and lymphoma, drastically improving outcomes for many patients with...
Encourage Lung Cancer Screening to Prevent Early Deaths
Discussions of benefits and harms from screening of high-risk populations for lung cancer have missed the point. The National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) showed an early and statistically significant major benefit in all-cause mortality from computed tomography (CT) screening.1 Those referred for ...
FDA Approves Ibrutinib in Combination With Obinutuzumab in Treatment-Naive CLL/SLL
ON JANUARY 28, 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ibrutinib (Imbruvica), a Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor, in combination with obinutuzumab in treatment-naive patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL). This is the first approval of ...
Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Test on Hereditary Colorectal Cancer Syndrome Receives FDA Clearance
ON JANUARY 22, 2019, 23andMe received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for a genetic health risk report on the hereditary colorectal cancer syndrome MUTYH-associated polyposis. The clearance follows the FDA’s authorization for 23andMe’s BRCA1/BRCA2 (Selected Variants) Genetic...
Lorlatinib Shows Overall and Intracranial Activity in ALK-Positive NSCLC
IN A GLOBAL phase II study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Benjamin J. Solomon, MBBS, of Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, and colleagues found that lorlatinib showed high overall and intracranial activity in patients with advanced ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who were...
Living My Best Life
Five years ago, I was living my dream life. I was under contract as a commentator on Fox News, which necessitated commuting weekly from my home in Los Angeles to New York, and was building a new home in Palm Springs with my partner, Matt Lashey. Not only was my career and personal life going well,...
Breast Cancer Surgical Terminology Should Be Updated to Reflect Modern Medical Practice
BREAST CANCER is a microscopic disease, with most patients presenting with “localized” stage I to III disease, for which they are offered curative-intent surgery often accompanied by radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and hormonal therapy. More accurately, we now know that patients with localized...
Advancing the Science and Art of Integrative Oncology
In 2019, we will mark the 20th year of the establishment of the Integrative Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), which helped lay the foundation for the emerging field of integrative oncology. Over the past 2 decades, academic cancer institutions, including The...
Neoadjuvant Combination Checkpoint Blockade in Advanced Melanoma
Neoadjuvant combination checkpoint blockade showed activity among patients with high-risk stage III melanoma in a small study. However, a high incidence of side effects caused the trial to be closed early. These results were published by Rodabe N. Amaria, MD, Assistant Professor of Melanoma...
In Vitro and Ex Vivo Activity of Gentian Violet in Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma
As reported in JAMA Dermatology, Jianqiang Wu, MD, PhD, and Gary S. Wood, MD, found that the widely available nonprescription topical antimicrobial agent gentian violet has potent activity against cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) in studies in vitro and ex vivo. The study involved...
Opioid Use Following Thoracoscopic Surgery in Early-Stage Lung Cancer
In a study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Stephanie Tuminello, MPH, and colleagues found that video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) was less likely than open resection to be associated with long-term opioid use in patients undergoing surgery for early-stage lung cancer....
Leaders of Harborside Medical Education Recognized by the Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions
THE PRINCIPALS and staff of Harborside, publisher of The ASCO Post, congratulate Harborside Medical Education (HSME) for staff recognition by the Alliance for Continuing Education (CE) in the Health Professions (the Alliance). Two senior staff were honored during the awards ceremony preceding the...
