The treatment of colorectal cancer has always been something of an art—but never more so than during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the spring of 2020, The ASCO Post asked three experts in this malignancy to share their concerns and their approaches to achieving good patient outcomes while minimizing...
OneOncology, a partnership of independent oncology practices, has announced the formation of a separate subsidiary, the OneOncology Research Network (OneR). The new platform is a national nonexclusive clinical trial site management organization that will enhance the current research programs...
Sharing his perspective on KEYNOTE-177 with The ASCO Post was Axel Grothey, MD, Director of GI Cancer Research at the West Cancer Center, OneOncology, Memphis. “This is a very important, highly anticipated study,” he said. “It’s the first randomized trial of any checkpoint inhibitor in...
Sharing his perspective on KEYNOTE-177 with The ASCO Post was Axel Grothey, MD, Director of GI Cancer Research at the West Cancer Center, OneOncology, Memphis. “This is a very important, highly anticipated study,” he said. “It’s the first randomized trial of any checkpoint inhibitor in...
The treatment of colorectal cancer has always been something of an art—but never more so than during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ASCO Post asked three experts in this malignancy to share their concerns and their approaches to achieving good patient outcomes while minimizing the risk of COVID-19...
ADDING ATEZOLIZUMAB (Tecentriq) to a fluoropyrimidine plus bevacizumab (Avastin) did not improve outcomes for patients with BRAF wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer enrolled in the umbrella MODUL trial.1 “Despite activity in other, immune-responsive tumor types, there was no improvement in...
Biologics are credited with increasing median overall survival in colorectal cancer to approximately 30 months. Their optimal use was discussed by Axel Grothey, MD, Professor of Oncology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, in an article he coauthored for the Journal of Oncology Practice 1...
In 1996, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) published its first set of Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®) covering 8 tumor types. Guidelines are now published for more than 60 tumor types and topics. Some of the key updates were presented at NCCN’s 23rd...
Triplet therapy that inhibits the BRAF, MEK, and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) pathways appears promising in BRAF-mutated colorectal cancer, a malignancy that typically does not respond to BRAF inhibition alone. Early results from the BEACON CRC study showed a 48% response rate and an...
According to Alberto Sobrero, MD, Head of Medical Oncology at Ospedale San Martino in Genova, Italy, the results of the pivotal IDEA trial, which evaluated the optimal duration of adjuvant chemotherapy for stage III colon cancer, were not clear to clinicians.1 The combined analysis of six...
Patients with stage III colon cancer considered at low risk for recurrence may be treated effectively—and incur less neurotoxicity—with 3 months of an oxaliplatin-based regimen as compared with the standard 6 months, according to the results of the International Duration Evaluation of Adjuvant...
Axel Grothey, MD, of the Mayo Clinic Rochester, discusses study findings on shortening the duration of adjuvant oxaliplatin-based therapy, linked to neurotoxicity, for patients with stage III colon cancer. (Abstract LBA1)
After surgery for lymph node–positive colon cancer (stage III), some patients may need only half of the long-standing standard course of chemotherapy. In an analysis of 6 clinical trials with over 12,800 patients, 3 months of chemotherapy was nearly as effective as 6 months in patients with...
As reported by Jones et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, BRAF mutations occurring outside of codon 600 are found in a small proportion of cases of metastatic colorectal cancer and are associated with improved clinical outcome. Study Details The retrospective cohort study involved 9,643...
Axel Grothey, MD, of the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, discusses how the NCCN Guidelines can help oncologists make strategic choices of the various agents available to treat metastatic colorectal cancer, individualizing patient care.
Eric Van Cutsem, MD, PhD, of University Hospitals Gasthuisberg/Leuven, and Axel Grothey, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, discuss the Italian-led study on trastuzumab and lapatinib in HER2-amplified metastatic colorectal as well as other colorectal cancer findings discussed at ASCO (Abstract 3508).
Dung T. Le, MD, of Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University, and Axel Grothey, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, discuss how mismatch repair status predicts clinical benefit of immune checkpoint blockade with pembrolizumab (Abstract LBA100).
Chloe Evelyn Atreya, MD, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco, talks with Axel Grothey, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, about new data on trametinib, dabrafenib, and panitumumab in patients with the BRAF V600E mutation and vemurafenib plus irinotecan and cetuximab in BRAF-mutated metastatic...
Management of stage II colorectal cancer remains a considerable gray area where an individualized risk-based approach and more molecular research are needed, according to Axel Grothey, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “Stage II is a little bit more complicated than stage III,” he...
Individual oncologists will have to decide for themselves whether the results from the pooled analysis of cetuximab trials regarding G13D KRAS mutational status are ready for clinical application, according to Axel Grothey, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “We still need...
Colorectal cancer studies reported at this year’s ASCO meeting offered little in the way of practice-changing information, according to Axel Grothey, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. But they did confirm existing standards of care, he noted at the Best of ASCO® meeting in Seattle....
Axel Grothey, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, found the findings presented by Marc Peeters, MD, PhD,1 at the 2011 European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress to be of great interest, from both clinical and research perspectives. “We have two discrepant analyses now for G13D. When we...
Axel Grothey, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, told The ASCO Post that he finds the data “intriguing” and that the study exemplifies the value of developing molecular signatures for use in colon cancer. “It identifies patients with an excellent prognosis, who perhaps should not be...
The novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor regorafenib, given as a single agent to patients with treatment-refractory metastatic colorectal cancer, significantly improved overall survival and delayed disease progression in an international phase III trial presented at the 2012 Gastrointestinal Cancers...
Additional noteworthy gastrointestinal cancer studies presented during oral abstract sessions at the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting included the following trials in metastatic colorectal cancer. Perifosine/Capecitabine Fails in Phase III Trial Adding perifosine, an oral alkylphospholipid inhibitor that...
Over the past 10 years, agents targeting the VEGF system, such as bevacizumab, have become standard components of anticancer therapy in various malignancies. Recently, it has become increasingly evident that prolonged duration of anti-VEGF therapy is needed to optimize the therapeutic effect of...
Novel Multikinase Inhibitor Improves Survival in Metastatic Colorectal CancerBy Caroline HelwickThe novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor regorafenib, given as a single agent to patients with treatment-refractory metastatic colorectal cancer, significantly improved overall survival and delayed disease...
Two gastrointestinal cancer experts commented on the findings in interviews with The ASCO Post. Axel Grothey, MD, Professor of Oncology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, noted, “The PEAK and SPIRITT trial were decently designed, decently powered randomized phase II trials, and the results...
Axel Grothey, MD, Professor of Oncology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, said that classifying colorectal cancer by intrinsic subtypes is “the right route forward,” especially if subtypes can be reliably linked to therapeutic response and survival. “We will not be treating all colorectal...
The so-called TML (Treatment across Multiple Lines) study reported by Bennouna and colleagues investigated the efficacy of bevacizumab (Avastin) beyond progression from first- to second-line therapy in advanced colorectal cancer, a strategy that was supported by data from observational cohort...
In his discussion of the QUASAR2 presentation at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2014 Congress, Axel Grothey, MD, Professor of Oncology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, said the results “confirm what we know” and have no implications for clinical practice or for future...
Putting the maintenance trials into context was Axel Grothey, MD, Professor of Oncology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, who commented, “These studies inform our clinical practice and have a meaningful impact on how we treat our patients.” DREAM Trial In the DREAM Trial, Dr. Grothey...
For 2 decades, the NCCN Guidelines® have been recognized as the standard of cancer care in the United States, combining evidence, experience, and choice, so that multidisciplinary cancer treatment teams—including patients—are empowered to make informed decisions about cancer care,” said Robert W....
In a phase III N08CB/Alliance trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Loprinzi et al assessed whether calcium and magnesium treatment reduced oxaliplatin-related neurotoxicity in patients with colon cancer receiving adjuvant FOLFOX (fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin). They found ...