March 15, 2012 (View All Issues)
Imatinib mesylate tablets (Gleevec) approved for the adjuvant treatment of adult patients following complete gross resection of Kit (CD117) positive gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). Accelerated approval for this indication was granted in December 2008.- Vismodegib (Erivedge) capsules...
Re-analysis of RADIANT-2 Finds Benefit for Everolimus in Patients with Carcinoid Tumors
A re-analysis of the RADIANT-2 trial, which evaluated everolimus (Afinitor) in patients with advanced nonpancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, has yielded prognostic factors that identify a group of patients who are not only at high risk for recurrence but who may derive benefit from treatment with...
Expert Point of View: Re-analysis of RADIANT-2 Finds Benefit for Everolimus in Patients with Carcinoid Tumors
Timothy J. Hobday, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, discussed the findings of the RADIANT-2 re-analysis at the 2012 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.
Speaking from the perspective of a clinical researcher, he said, “the conclusions of the study are reasonable” and provide...
Searching for Quality in an Increasingly Complex Health-care Environment
With the Presidential election just around the corner, the health-care debate will undoubtedly heat up. The ASCO Post spoke with Sean R. Tunis, MD, MSc, Founder and Director, Center for Medical Technology Policy, and former Chief Medical Officer for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, ...
Moving the Field of Geriatric Oncology Forward
With the aging of the population, virtually all of the subspecialties of oncology will soon be concerned primarily with the care of older patients. While there is not one precise definition of the age of “geriatric” patients, it is clear that the aging of our society has necessitated a focus on the ...
Prostate Cancer Studies Compare Outcomes, Toxicities, and Costs
Patients with prostate cancer are treated with various forms of radiotherapy and/or radical prostatectomy with little comparative data to inform treatment selection. Two studies presented at the 2012 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium attempt to address that gap. In one study of men with localized...
Expert Point of View: Prostate Cancer Studies Compare Outcomes, Toxicities, and Costs
Nicholas B. Vogelzang, MD, moderator of the press briefing where these findings were presented, agreed that the first study supports intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) as the current standard of care. With costs of health care increasing exponentially, it is important to establish the...
Important News Briefs: New Data Reported in Prostate, Bladder, and Kidney Cancers
The recent 2012 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium featured a wealth of presentations on prostate, bladder, kidney, and other genitourinary cancers. Brief summaries of some of the oral and poster sessions are presented.
Exercise and Recurrence
Vigorous exercise has been shown to reduce cancer...
New Assays, Surveillance Techniques Reported for GI Malignancies
Two studies highlighted in press conferences and one presented during an invited lecture at the 2012 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, held recently in San Francisco, suggest that early detection of pancreatic, esophageal, and colorectal cancers could soon improve.
Enzyme Immunoassay Spots...
Immune Changes Reported with Early Use of Sipuleucel-T in Neoadjuvant Setting for Prostate Cancer
Sipuleucel-T (Provenge) can generate a circulating immune response to treat men with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer, as per its FDA-approved indication.1 A neoadjuvant trial was performed to investigate whether earlier use of sipuleucel-T can generate an immune response in the...
Adjuvant Therapy for Stage III Colon Cancer: Survival Advantage of Oxaliplatin Reported in Clinical Trials Extends to Diverse Group of Patients
The survival advantage conferred by adding oxaliplatin to adjuvant chemotherapy with fluorouracil (5-FU) in stage III colon cancer, as previously shown in patients in randomized controlled trials, extends to patients in the general population, including older and minority group patients and those...
Autologous Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation for Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia: A Question That Doesn’t Go Away
More than 3 decades ago, the first trials of autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation as consolidation therapy for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in first remission were conducted. The initial results were inconclusive; most patients survived the procedure, but post-transplant relapse was common ...
Autologous Transplant vs Consolidation Chemotherapy in Acute Myeloid Leukemia: A Recent European Trial
Investigators in the Dutch-Belgian Hemato-Oncology Cooperative Group and the Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research Collaborative Group recently reported in the journal Blood that autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation significantly reduced relapse rate compared with intensive...
Next-generation Sequencing in Metastatic Triple-negative Breast Cancer Yields Rewards
The startling molecular heterogeneity of metastatic triple-negative breast cancer is now obvious and helps to explain the poor outcomes observed in this patient subset. Comprehensive genomic and transcriptomic interrogation of metastatic triple-negative breast cancer is elucidating the molecular...
Expert Point of View: Next-generation Sequencing in Metastatic Triple-negative Breast Cancer Yields Rewards
Hope Rugo, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, commented on Dr. O’Shaughnessy’s presentation on molecular pathways in triple-negative breast cancer at the 2011 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. “The really exciting thing is that we have moved from intrinsic subtyping of breast...
Answer to Secondary Cancers with RAF Inhibitors May Be Concomitant MEK Inhibition
Keratoacanthomas and cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas are frequently observed in patients receiving the RAF inhibitor vemurafenib (Zelboraf) for treatment of BRAF-mutated melanoma. As discussed by Lacouture and colleagues in a recent Journal of Clinical Oncology article, these effects appear to...
Expert Point of View: Answer to Secondary Cancers with RAF Inhibitors May Be Concomitant MEK Inhibition
“The development of nonmelanoma skin cancers secondary to RAF inhibitor treatment has been recognized since 2005, having been seen initially with sorafenib (Nexavar),” noted Mario E. Lacouture, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Commenting on recently published studies in this setting,...
Rising Costs in Radiation Oncology Linked to Medicare Coverage
In the ongoing debate over how to control rising cancer care costs, it is vital to identify usage patterns of expensive new technologies. A recent study examined the relationship between Medicare reimbursement and the increasing use of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT).1 The ASCO Post...
Eating Problems and Pain Prevalent in Survivors of Head/Neck Cancer
“Eating problems due to poor oropharyngeal functioning and persistent pain are the most prevalent problems” faced by patients 5 years after being treated for head and neck cancer, according to a study published online by the Archives of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery.1 More than 50% of...
What You Need to Know About Axitinib, New Agent for Treating Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs.
Indication
In January 2012, the second-generation vascular...
ASCO Launches Community Research Forum to Tackle Top Research Conundrums
Just how many research-focused staff members is it optimal to have when conducting clinical trials in a community-practice setting? To properly gauge that, should the practice look closely at how many studies it’s working on? The complexity of those studies? The number of patients enrolled? Some...
Research of Former Foundation Grantee James Yao Highlighted at the GI Cancers Symposium
A study led by James C. Yao, MD, Assistant Professor and Deputy Chair of Gastrointestinal Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, was presented at the 2012 Gastrointestinal (GI) Cancers Symposium in San Francisco and highlighted in the meeting’s press program. In the ...
Pre–Annual Meeting Seminar Series Kicks Off
This year, ASCO is cosponsoring a new series of intimate, discussion-based seminars to be held just before the start of the Annual Meeting in June. The three seminars, which start at 1:00 PM on Thursday, May 31, and continue through noon on Friday, June 1, the first day of the Annual Meeting, are:
...
ASCO Submits Testimony for Congressional Hearing Examining Quality Programs that Reward High-quality Care
The House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee recently held a hearing on programs and initiatives that reward physicians who deliver high-quality, efficient care. ASCO submitted written testimony from CEO Allen S. Lichter, MD, on many aspects of quality care, including how the Quality Oncology...
Help Your Patients Organize Their Cancer Care
Direct your patients to Cancer.Net/podcasts, where they can listen to a podcast about staying organized during cancer treatment, getting financial information in order, preparing questions ahead of appointments, and setting up a filing system for important documents. ■
© 2012. American Society ...
FDA Acts to Bolster Supply of Critically Needed Cancer Drugs
The FDA has announced a series of steps to increase the supply of critically needed cancer drugs and build on President Obama’s Executive Order to help prevent future drug shortages. The President’s order, issued last October 31, directed the FDA to take action to help further prevent and reduce...
New Colonoscopy System Cleared by FDA
A developer of endoscopy products based in New York and Kissing, Germany, invendo medical, announced that the company received 510(k) clearance by the FDA of the company’s new C20 colonoscopy system, including the SC20 single-use colonoscope.
The invendoscope SC20 has several features that are...
ODAC Votes against Denosumab to Delay Bone Metastasis in Men with Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer
The FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) voted 12 to 1 that the risk-benefit ratio was insufficient for an expanded use of denosumab (Xgeva) to delay the spread of prostate cancer to the bone in men with castration-resistant disease. The panel was not asked specifically whether it...
Ki-67 Image Analysis and Digital Read Applications Cleared
Ventana Medical Systems, Inc, received 510(k) clearance from the FDA for the Ventana Companion Algorithm Ki-67 (30-9) image analysis application used with the Ventana iScan Coreo Au scanner running Virtuoso software. Ventana is currently the only company offering an FDA-cleared Ki-67 image...
First Urine-based Molecular Test to Gauge Need for Repeat Prostate Biopsies
Gen-Probe announced the FDA has approved its PROGENSA PCA3 (prostate cancer gene 3) assay, the first molecular test to help determine the need for repeat prostate biopsies in men who have had a previous negative biopsy.
“Overexpression of the PCA3 gene is highly specific to cancerous prostate...
FDA Drug Approvals, January–March 2012
How I Work up the Patient with Thrombocytosis
Thrombocytosis is defined as a platelet count greater than 400 × 109/L. In routine clinical practice, thrombocytosis is much more likely to be reactive (> 80% of cases) than primary. Reactive thrombocytosis is usually associated with infections, inflammation, trauma, hemolysis, metastatic...
Researchers Map Potential Genetic Origins, Pathways of Lung Cancer in Never-smokers
Findings from a small study on potential gene mutations and pathway alterations that could lead to lung cancer in never-smokers were presented in a poster at the American Association for Cancer Research–International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer Joint Conference on Molecular Origins of...
Maintenance with Lenalidomide or Bortezomib Prolongs Remission in Elderly Patients with Multiple Myeloma
The benefit of maintenance therapy in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients ineligible for stem cell transplant, such as the elderly, is still debated, though value appears to be emerging, according to studies presented at the 2011 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting.
...
Context May Affect Benefit of Adjuvant Clodronate in Breast Cancer
A benefit of the oral bisphosphonate clodronate when used as adjuvant therapy for early breast cancer may depend on factors such as the endpoint assessed and patient age, suggests the randomized B-34 trial conducted by the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP).
The trial,...
Risk Stratification of BRCA Mutation Carriers May Help Guide Follow-up
Patient and tumor characteristics can stratify women with breast cancer and a BRCA mutation into groups having different risks of contralateral disease, which may help tailor follow-up, suggests a study of more than 5,000 women in the Netherlands. Confirming findings of other studies, the study...
Research Funding Key to Continued Progress in Cancer Care
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) President and ASCO member Judy Garber, MD, MPH, recently spoke with The ASCO Post about the findings of AACR’s landmark Cancer Progress Report,1 In addition, she offered her perspective on the current and future state of cancer research.
Project...
AACR Urges Congress to Maintain, Preferably Increase, Cancer Research Funding
December 23, 2011, marked the 40th anniversary of the National Cancer Act. To mark that occasion, on February 2, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) held a Congressional briefing, attended by about 100 legislative aides, to remind Congress that the war on cancer is far from over....
Some Patients Using Complementary and Alternative Therapies May Be Receiving ‘Parallel’ Rather Than Integrative Care
Most patients with cancer receiving complementary and alternative medicine do so not as part of integrative care, but rather as “parallel care,” according to Lynda Balneaves, RN, PhD, Associate Professor, University of British Columbia, School of Nursing in Vancouver. Dr. Balneaves is lead...
ASH 2011 Presentations Include Novel Agents and New Strategies in Leukemia, Lymphoma, and Myeloma
Attendees at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), held recently in in San Diego, were able to choose from a wide range of interesting and important sessions exploring hematologic malignancies. In addition to The ASCO Post’s regular news coverage from the meeting,...
Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer: A Distinct Population of Patients Who Need to Be Treated Differently
In the News focuses on media reports that your patients may have questions about at their next visit. This continuing column will provide summaries of articles in the popular press that may prompt such questions, as well as comments from colleagues in the field.
Cancer among adolescents and young...
Surviving Cancer Means Making Many Difficult Decisions
The best advice I received after getting a diagnosis of stage I invasive lobular carcinoma in my left breast was from my radiologist, who told me, “Remember, be your own best advocate.” Those words have stayed with me through my 6-year struggle with breast cancer and its aftermath.
Extraordinary...
Cost of Cancer Therapy: The Elephant in the Room?
I am distressed by your coverage of innovative therapies, such as dual HER2 blockade (see The ASCO Post, January 1, 2012, and Supplement to February 15, 2012), without mentioning that these therapies will never be cost-effective given the current pricing of the agents involved. If we wish to...
Survival Advantage of Oxaliplatin Extends to Diverse Group of Patients
The survival advantage conferred by adding oxaliplatin to adjuvant chemotherapy with fluorouracil (5-FU), as previously shown in randomized controlled trials, extends to patients in the general population, including older and minority group patients and those with higher comorbidity. These results, ...
VEGFR Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors Linked to Increased Risk of Fatal Adverse Events
A meta-analysis of 10 randomized controlled trials involving 4,679 patients showed that the use of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors was associated with an increased risk of fatal adverse events. “The crude incidence of [fatal adverse events] in patients ...
2012 Oncology Meetings
MARCH
Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association 8th Annual Meeting
March 21-24 • Orlando, Florida
For more information:
www.hoparx.org
65th Society of Surgical Oncology Annual Meeting
March 21-24 • Orlando, Florida
For more information:
www.surgonc.org
Society of Interventional Radiology 37th...
