In an analysis of data from the National Cancer Database reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Go et al found a lower risk of all-cause mortality among patients with multiple myeloma treated at higher-volume facilities. Study Details The study included patients diagnosed with multiple...
In the spring of 2011, I was feeling so fatigued I needed to rest after walking just a few steps to the kitchen and not doing anything more strenuous than making a cup of coffee. Fortunately, I have a wonderful primary care physician who takes me seriously when I have a complaint about my health,...
In September, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, opened the Minerals in Medicine exhibition at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. The exhibition, which includes more than 40 minerals and metals...
Findings from a phase II trial of vemurafenib in previously treated patients with advanced disease and BRAF-mutated tumors indicate that the drug is effective in patients with diverse BRAF V600–mutated tumors but not in patients with BRAF non-V600 mutations. After a mean treatment...
The addition of the CD38-targeted antibody daratumumab (Darzalex) to lenalidomide (Revlimid)/dexamethasone improved progression-free survival in patients with previously treated multiple myeloma, according to the results of the phase III POLLUX trial reported by Dimopoulos et al in The New England...
Katja Weisel, MD, of the University of Tübingen, discusses in German study findings on daratumumab, bortezomib, and dexamethasone vs bortezomib and dexamethasone in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. (Abstract 906O)
Katja Weisel, MD, of the University of Tübingen, discusses study findings on daratumumab, bortezomib, and dexamethasone vs bortezomib and dexamethasone in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. (Abstract 906O)
In a meta-analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Munshi et al found that minimal residual disease (MRD)-negative status was associated with improved survival in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma. For the analysis, a literature search identified 21 English language articles published...
Long-term follow-up in the phase III QuiRedex trial indicates continued benefit of lenalidomide (Revlimid)/dexamethasone vs observation in preventing disease progression in patients with high-risk smoldering multiple myeloma, as reported by Maria-Victoria Mateos, PhD, of Instituto de Biologia...
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) recently announced a collaboration with the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation to incorporate the Foundation’s wealth of genomic and clinical data about the disease into the NCI Genomic Data Commons. NCI’s Genomic Data Commons is a publicly available database...
The CD38 antigen was first recognized on normal and abnormal plasma cells over 3 decades ago. Indeed, this antigen was originally classified as T10, as it was the tenth antigen described on T cells. Its distribution of expression included activated B and T cells, natural killer cells, leukocytes,...
In the phase III CASTOR trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Antonio Palumbo, MD, of the University of Turin, and colleagues found that adding the anti-CD38 antibody daratumumab (Darzalex) to bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone markedly improved progression-free survival among ...
Here is a brief look at the study findings and clinical implications of several recent clinical trials on newer treatment options in neoplastic hematology. Attention is focused on several types of leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. Leukemia Clinical Trial: INO-VATE ALL phase III...
Although research advances in more effective therapies and diagnostics and improved screening technology over the past 2 decades have led to a 23% reduction in the cancer death rate in the United States, saving nearly 2 million lives,1 cancer remains the second leading cause of death after heart...
Analysis of data from the Veterans Administration Central Cancer Registry, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Sanfilippo et al, showed that statin use was associated with a reduced risk of all-cause and multiple myeloma–specific mortality in patients with multiple myeloma....
Updated Outcomes, Impact of Age in Multiple Myeloma As reported by Hulin et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the updated findings in the phase III FIRST trial continue to show improved progression-free and overall survival with continuous lenalidomide (Revlimid) plus low-dose dexamethasone...
OCTOBER International Cancer Imaging Society Meeting and 16th Annual Teaching CourseOctober 3-5 • Glasgow, ScotlandFor more information:http://www.icimagingsociety.org.uk/index.cfm?task=meetings 9th International Workshop on Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia & Symposia on Multiple MyelomaOctober...
Attendees at the 2016 Pan Pacific Lymphoma Conference held July 18–22 in Koloa, Hawaii, got a peek at early data for a number of novel agents in the treatment of various lymphoma subtypes. The ASCO Post captured these findings. Denintuzumab Mafodotin in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Denintuzumab...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Stewart et al found that treatment with carfilzomib (Kyprolis), lenalidomide (Revlimid), and dexamethasone (KRd) was associated with improved health-related quality of life vs lenalidomide/dexamethasone (Rd) in relapsed multiple myeloma in the phase...
SEPTEMBER 19th Annual Meeting of the Chinese Society of Clinical OncologySeptember 21-25 • Xiamen, ChinaFor more information:www.csco.ac.cn IASLC Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic OncologySeptember 22-24 • Chicago, IllinoisFor more...
In June 2016, the European Hematology Association Congress convened in Copenhagen, Denmark. The educational and scientific program highlighted state-of-the-art clinical practice and the latest findings in hematology research. The ASCO Post brings its readers brief summaries of some of the important ...
Approximately 20% of patients with follicular lymphoma will relapse within 2 years of diagnosis. Although the optimal management of these patients has not been established, clinicians may be guided by data from recent clinical trials, according to Nathan H. Fowler, MD, Associate Professor and...
In the phase III CASTOR trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Palumbo et al found that adding the anti-CD38 antibody daratumumab (Darzalex) to bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone markedly improved progression-free survival among patients with relapsed or relapsed and refractory...
The combination of more precise diagnostic tools and advances in surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and targeted therapy in the treatment of cancer has led to unprecedented numbers of cancer survivors in the United States—more than 15.5 million, according to the latest figures from the...
Prostate cancer and lung cancer have been the number 1 and 2 cancers among men. Stomach cancer, the third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, has been on a steady decline among Koreans and Japanese. Black men had the highest overall rates of cancer. Thyroid cancer has been on the rise, and...
Chemotherapy- and radiotherapy-induced gastrointestinal (GI) toxicities have risen alongside improved survival rates for many cancers, according to Jervoise Andreyev, MA, PhD, Consultant Gastroenterologist in GI Consequences of Cancer Treatment at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London. “For every...
At the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting, studies presented at the Plenary Session gave attendees new treatment strategies to employ back home. But in the emerging push to contain the cost of new cancer treatments, do the four interventions fit within the new “value framework” for oncology? Deborah Schrag, ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation to the immunotherapy daratumumab (Darzalex) in combination with lenalidomide (Revlimid) and dexamethasone, or bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone, for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma who have ...
To provide insight on myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) for patients and caregivers, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) has published the NCCN Guidelines for Patients® and NCCN Quick Guide™ for MDS. These resources are provided through funding from the NCCN Foundation® and, in part,...
S. Vincent Rajkumar, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, and Sagar Lonial, MD, of the Emory University School of Medicine, discuss key issues in treating this disease, including monoclonal antibodies, plasmacytoma, and plasma cell leukemia.
Beth M. Faiman, PhD, MSN, CNP, AOCN, of the Cleveland Clinic, discusses working with patients with multiple myeloma to minimize the toxicity of their treatment and improve their outcomes.
Here are several abstracts selected from the proceedings of the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting, focusing on clinical trials on therapeutics in different types of leukemia, multiple myeloma, follicular lymphoma, and central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma. For full details of these study abstracts, visit...
As reported by Mateos et al in The Lancet Oncology, long-term follow-up in the phase III QuiRedex trial indicates continued benefit of lenalidomide (Revlimid)/dexamethasone vs observation in preventing disease progression in patients with high-risk smoldering multiple myeloma. Study Details In...
Obesity may be associated with an increased risk for death from multiple myeloma in African Americans, according to a study reported by Sonderman et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Multiple myeloma incidence and mortality rates have been reported to be twice as high among...
As reported by Hulin et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the updated findings in the phase III FIRST trial continue to show improved progression-free and overall survival with continuous lenalidomide (Revlimid) plus low-dose dexamethasone (Rd) vs melphalan, prednisone, and thalidomide (MPT)...
Question 1: What is the next best step for this patient? Correct Answer: C. Determination of amyloid subtype. Expert Perspective Amyloidosis encompasses a heterogeneous group of diseases bound by the characteristic deposition of amyloid fibrils in soft tissues and bone marrow, and it could be...
The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF), a leader in precision medicine, has announced that its founder Kathy Giusti has been appointed Faculty Co-Chair of the Kraft Precision Medicine Accelerator at Harvard Business School (HBS). Ms. Giusti will lead the Harvard Business School Kraft...
Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are the result of genetic alterations that cause blood stem cells to become abnormal, rendering bone marrow unable to create new, mature blood cells for release into the body. It is estimated that up to 15,000 new cases of MDS are diagnosed in the United States each...
The demand for radiotherapy across all European countries will increase by an average of 16% between 2012 and 2025, with the highest expected increase being for prostate cancer cases (24%), according to a new study published by Borras et al in Radiotherapy and Oncology.1 These projections came...
In 2015, four new drugs were approved for the treatment of multiple myeloma by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: panobinostat (Farydak), daratumumab (Darzalex), elotuzumab (Empliciti), and ixazomib (Ninlaro). Of them, the first three are drugs with unique new targets, whereas ixazomib is the...
In the phase III TOURMALINE-MM-1 trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Philippe Moreau, MD, of the University Hospital Hôtel Dieu, Nantes, France, and colleagues found that adding the oral proteasome inhibitor ixazomib (Ninlaro) to lenalidomide (Revlimid) and dexamethasone...
Last June, ASCO published its initial concept for a value framework in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO).1 The framework, developed by ASCO’s Value in Cancer Care Task Force, is designed to provide a standardized approach to assist physicians and patients in assessing the “value” of a new...
Multiple myeloma cells uniformly overexpress CD38.1 Daratumumab (Darzalex), a CD38-targeting human IgG1 kappa monoclonal antibody, has been evaluated in a series of phase I/II trials involving patients with relapsed or relapsed and refractory myeloma who have received at least two or more prior...
In the phase II SIRIUS trial reported in The Lancet, Sagar Lonial, MD, of Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, and colleagues found that the CD38-targeted monoclonal antibody daratumumab (Darzalex) produced durable responses in patients with multiple myeloma who had received at least three ...
Sagar Lonial, MD, of Emory University School of Medicine, and Paul G. Richardson, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discuss the top presentations on multiple myeloma delivered at this year’s meeting.
It can be easy to miss the forest for the trees in the interpretation of clinical trials. In particular, trials for the treatment of cancer are exceedingly complex, with long lists of inclusion and exclusion criteria, designs with hidden biases, drugs with unpronounceable names (if not cumbersome...
Study discussant Paul G. Richardson, MD, the RJ Corman Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Chair at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, commented, “The evolving role of monoclonal antibodies in multiple myeloma has been worth the wait. You can...
For relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, daratumumab (Darzalex), combined with bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone, reduced relapses by 61% in the phase III CASTOR study reported at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 “The results are unprecedented in a randomized study comparing a novel...
ASCO announced that Bayer and Merck are the most recent companies to sign on to provide study drugs at no cost to patients enrolled in the Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) study, joining six other companies in ASCO’s first-ever clinical trial. Since opening on March...
Antonio Palumbo, MD, of the University of Torino, discusses this phase III study of daratumumab, bortezomib, and dexamethasone versus bortezomib and dexamethasone in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (Abstract LBA4).