Early in 2018, durvalumab (Imfinzi) was approved for the treatment of unresectable stage III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that has not progressed following concurrent platinum-based chemotherapy and radiation therapy.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on a planned interim...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved mogamulizumab-kpkc (Poteligeo) injection for intravenous use for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory mycosis fungoides or Sézary syndrome after at least one prior systemic therapy. This approval provides a new...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning that the antibiotic azithromycin should not be given on a long-term basis to prevent the inflammatory lung condition bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome in patients with cancers of the blood or lymph nodes who undergo a donor stem cell...
In a study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Yang et al found that most patients who had undergone surgery for cancer reported that hospital reputation would have been important to them in choosing a hospital for surgery and that they would have used a listing of best hospitals for...
THE ASSESSMENT of cognitive dysfunction in patients who have undergone chemotherapy is complex, and although a number of strategies are available, each has its limitations, according to Karin Olson, RN, PhD, Professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. At...
GC4419, A SMALL molecule superoxide dismutase mimetic, reduced the duration, incidence, and severity of chemoradiotherapy-induced mucositis in patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer, with a safety profile comparable to that of placebo. This finding comes from a randomized phase IIb...
FOR THE TREATMENT of lymphoma, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are becoming an important class of drugs, as described at the 2018 Pan Pacific Lymphoma Conference by Brad Kahl, MD, Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis.1 “We have one ADC—brentuximab vedotin...
THE EMERGENCE of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has sparked a wave of optimism in hematologic malignancies, but as experience in using CAR T-cell therapy has grown, new challenges have surfaced. A pioneer in the field, David G. Maloney, MD, PhD, enlightened attendees on these issues ...
WHAT IS THE best choice of treatment for a man with newly diagnosed metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer after treatment with androgen-deprivation therapy—abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) plus prednisone, or enzalutamide (Xtandi)? Both drugs achieve similar cancer control in this setting,...
ROBERT PETER GALE, MD, PhD, DSc (hc), was on the faculty of the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine for 20 years and has served as Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research. In 1986, he was asked by the...
AS REPORTED in The New England Journal of Medicine by Maha Hussain, MD, of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University, and colleagues, the phase III PROSPER trial has shown a 71% reduction in the risk of metastasis or death with enzalutamide (Xtandi) vs placebo in men ...
Adult survivors of childhood cancer should be screened for financial problems that might cause them to delay or skip medical care or to suffer psychological distress. The recommendation from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital researchers followed an analysis that found 65% of...
In an analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Grossberg et al found that a single nucleotide polymorphism (C−509T) in the transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1) gene was associated with higher risk of radiation-induced fibrosis in women with early breast cancer. Study Details The...
In an article in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Miller et al reported final results of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group phase III E5103 trial, initiated in 2007, which showed no benefit of adding bevacizumab (Avastin) to adjuvant therapy in patients with HER2-negative, node-positive or...
Gini Fleming, MD, had a peripatetic path to her destination as a gynecologic and breast cancer expert. As a child, she moved around a lot, living in about 10 or 12 different places, so she had no real sense of being born and reared in any particular place. “My parents married young, when my father ...
GUEST EDITOR Dr. Abraham is the Director of the Breast Oncology Program at Taussig Cancer Institute, and Professor of Medicine, Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic. For this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, interviewed Mace L. Rothenberg, MD,...
In a Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) meeting devoted to real-world evidence, members of the cancer community generally agreed that its use has an increasingly important role to play in gathering the data necessary to test, evaluate, and bring new therapeutic agents to market. This Friends...
Early in 2018, abemaciclib (Verzenio) in combination with an aromatase inhibitor was approved as initial endocrine-based therapy for postmenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings in ...
The American Cancer Society (ACS) is outlining its vision for cancer control in the decades ahead in a series of articles that began publishing in early July in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. The series of articles forms the basis of a national cancer control plan, with a blueprint toward the ...
Two phase III studies—KX-AK-003 and KX-AK-004—achieved their primary endpoint of 100% clearance of actinic keratosis lesions at day 57 within the face or scalp treatment areas, with each study achieving statistical significance (P < .0001). Statistical significance (P < .001) ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Treon et al found that ibrutinib monotherapy was highly active in patients with previously untreated Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia, with better response in patients without CXCR4 mutation. Ibrutinib has been shown to be active in ...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Scragg et al found that monthly high-dose vitamin D supplementation, without calcium, was not associated with a reduced risk of developing cancer. Study Details The current analysis is a post hoc analysis of the Vitamin D Assessment (ViDA) study, which...
The phase III KEYNOTE-048 trial, which is investigating pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for first-line treatment of recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), met a primary endpoint of overall survival (OS) as monotherapy in patients whose tumors expressed programmed cell death ...
In a prospective cohort study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Merritt et al found evidence that recent use of aspirin or nonaspirin nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) after diagnosis appears to improve ovarian cancer–specific survival. Study Details The study involved...
The global, randomized, phase III ALTA-1L (ALK in Lung Cancer Trial of AP26113 in 1st Line) trial met its primary endpoint at the first prespecified interim analysis, with brigatinib (Alunbrig) demonstrating a statistically significant improvement in progression-free...
In a Swedish study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Weibull et al found that childbearing potential in young women treated for Hodgkin lymphoma in more recent years is similar to that in the general population. Study Details The study included 449 women aged 18 to 40 years identified ...
In a pivotal phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lancet et al found that cytarabine and daunorubicin liposome (CPX-351, Vyxeos) significantly improved overall survival vs standard cytarabine plus daunorubicin (7+3 regimen) in older patients with newly diagnosed secondary...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved lusutrombopag (Mulpleta) for thrombocytopenia in adults with chronic liver disease who are scheduled to undergo a medical or dental procedure. L-PLUS 1 and L-PLUS 2 Approval was based on two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled...
Conventional wisdom suggests that a high level of the protein prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in men with prostate cancer means a poor prognosis. However, this may not always be the case in men with a particular subtype of prostate cancer, according to a new study from Weill Cornell Medicine and...
Patients with colorectal cancer tumors on the right side may have poorer 5-year survival rates than those whose tumors are located on the left side. However, a new large-scale retrospective study is the first to demonstrate a potential improvement of these outcomes. Study results show that nearly...
In a prospective study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Parker et al found that among women with nonhereditary breast cancer electing contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM), fear and worry over breast cancer may be dominant at the time of surgical decisions without sufficient...
A joint analysis of parallel phase III trials reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Gridelli et al found no overall survival benefit of adding cisplatin to first-line treatment of elderly patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) without an EGFR mutation. Study...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track designation to galinpepimut-S for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Galinpepimut-S is licensed from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and targets the Wilms tumor 1 (WT1) protein, which is present in an array of tumor types....
In a study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Oza et al found that quality of life (QOL) based on patient-reported outcomes (PROs) was not worsened with niraparib (Zejula) maintenance vs placebo in the phase III ENGOT-OV16/NOVA trial in women with recurrent ovarian cancer who were in response to...
As reported by Li and colleagues in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the HER2-targeted antibody-drug conjugate ado-trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla) showed activity in advanced HER2-mutant lung adenocarcinoma. Study Details The current report involves a cohort of patients with HER2-mutant lung...
The World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) has estimated that in developed countries, about 35% of breast cancers and 45% of colorectal cancers could be prevented with a better adherence to nutritional recommendations. A large prospective study evaluating...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved a magnetic device system for guiding lymph node biopsies in patients with breast cancer undergoing mastectomy. The Magtrace and Sentimag Magnetic Localization System uses magnetic detection during sentinel lymph node biopsy procedures to ...
Researchers from Samsung Medical Center and Guardant Health, Inc have demonstrated the feasibility of determining a measure analogous to tumor mutation burden, a promising biomarker that may predict patient response to certain immunotherapies, utilizing the Guardant360 assay, a...
A new study from the Stanford Cancer Institute found that young women who are treated with chemotherapy for breast cancer but have residual tumor in either the breast or lymph nodes have higher chances of recurrence compared to those with no evidence of any residual invasive...
People who received complementary therapy for curable cancers were more likely to refuse at least one component of their conventional cancer treatment, and were more likely to die as a result, according to researchers from Yale Cancer Center and the Cancer Outcomes, Public Policy and Effectiveness...
In the phase III SOLO2 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Friedlander et al found that olaparib maintenance therapy did not worsen health-related quality of life vs placebo in patients with platinum-sensitive relapsed ovarian cancer and a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation. In the study, maintenance...
MANY IN the cancer research and National Institutes of Health (NIH) community are mourning the loss of long-time National Cancer Institute (NCI) senior leader Alan S. Rabson, MD, who died on July 4 at the age of 92. With a distinguished scientific career that spanned 6 decades and included...
Despite the fact that my father was a smoker and I watched him die a horrible death from lung cancer in the 1970s, until 4 years before my own lung cancer diagnosis in 2012, I, too, was a heavy smoker for most of my adult life. Still, cancer was the farthest thing from my mind when I made an...
In a letter to the editor of The New England Journal of Medicine, Dezheng Huo, MD, of the University of Chicago, Chicago, and colleagues described the long-term outcomes of women with vaginal and cervical clear cell adenocarcinoma associated with prenatal exposure to the synthetic nonsteroidal...
A study reported in JAMA Oncology by Anne Marie McCarthy, PhD, of the Division of General Internal Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, and colleagues identified the risk of interval breast cancer after negative screening mammography, including the risk of poor-prognosis breast cancer. The...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology by Chelain R. Goodman, MD, PhD, of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and colleagues, adjuvant radiotherapy was associated with better outcome in patients with early breast cancer who had detectable...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology by Allison W. Kurian, MD, of Stanford University School of Medicine, and colleagues found that use of germline multiple-gene sequencing has become more common than BRCA1/2-alone sequencing after breast cancer diagnosis in clinical practice. ...
RECOMMENDATIONS IN the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) clinical practice guidelines for integrative therapies during and after breast cancer treatment “are clear, thorough, and based on the most relevant scientific evidence,” concluded an ASCO expert panel that reviewed the guidelines.1,2...
In 2015, Congress passed the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization ACT (MACRA), which aims to move Medicare toward reimbursement based more on outcomes and values, a goal, in theory, shared by the oncology community. To shed light on the complicated and problematic attempt to restructure the...
As reported in The Lancet by Thomas Powles, MD, of Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, and colleagues, the phase III IMvigor211 trial showed no survival benefit for atezolizumab vs physician’s choice of chemotherapy in platinum-treated locally advanced or metastatic urothelial...