Treatment with the FLT3-targeted therapeutic gilteritinib improved survival for patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) harboring an FLT3 mutation compared with standard chemotherapy regimens, according to results from the phase III ADMIRAL trial presented by Perl et al at ...
An interim analysis of a small phase Ib study by O’Hara et al evaluating the CD40 agonistic monoclonal antibody APX005M in combination with gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel with or without the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor nivolumab in untreated patients with metastatic...
The results of an analysis of pooled data from the phase Ib KEYNOTE-028 trial and the phase II KEYNOTE-158 study of the anti–programmed cell death protein 1 monoclonal antibody pembrolizumab in the treatment of advanced small cell lung cancer has found that the therapy provided antitumor...
A small phase I study by Navai et al investigated a combination of lymphodepletion chemotherapy and HER2-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for pediatric and adult patients with advanced HER2-positive sarcoma. The combination showed promising antitumor activity and was found to ...
This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced policy changes to modernize mammography policies and issued a Breakthrough Therapy designation, an Orphan Drug designation, and an investigational new drug application. FDA Advances Policy Changes to Modernize Mammography Services...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Dessinioti et al found that thin nodular primary melanomas are associated with aggressive characteristics that may portend poorer prognosis vs superficial spreading melanomas. Study Details The study involved data on 5,062...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Shaw et al found that lorlatinib showed greater efficacy in patients with vs without anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) resistance mutations among patients with advanced ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in whom one or more...
The members of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) have elected Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, as their President-Elect for 2019–2020. He will officially become President-Elect at the AACR Annual Meeting 2019 and he will assume the presidency in April 2020 at the AACR Annual Meeting...
Keratinocyte carcinoma, previously known as nonmelanoma skin cancer, is the most common malignancy in fair-skinned populations worldwide. In a review article published in Current Opinion in Pharmacology, Alexander Zink, MD, MPH, PhD, of the Technical University of Munich, proposed that...
CHECK OUT ASCO Answers patient education materials in the ASCO University Bookstore. ASCO Answers includes award-winning guides, fact sheets, and booklets covering a broad range of important and popular topics in cancer care. Bulk quantities of these high-quality print materials are available at...
APPROXIMATELY 5 MILLION middle and high school students reported currently using a tobacco product, with over 3.6 million currently using e-cigarettes and about 2.5 million currently using a combustible tobacco product, according to the latest findings from the National Youth Tobacco Survey ...
MEMBERS OF CONGRESS recently reintroduced bipartisan legislation, the ‘Covering Life-Saving Investigations Needed in Cancer and Other Life-Threatening Conditions Through Timely Use of Resources for Easy and Affordable Treatment from Medicaid for Enrollees in Need Today Act,’ or the CLINICAL...
ASCO’S CONQUER CANCER FOUNDATION is pleased to announce the recipients of the Gastrointestinal Cancers, Genitourinary Cancers, and Clinical Immuno-Oncology Symposium Merit Awards. Conquer Cancer Merit Awards recognize oncology fellows’ and trainees’ high-quality research submitted in abstracts to...
The National Center of Oncology (NCO) in Azerbaijan partnered with ASCO, the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), and the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) to conduct a highly successful Multidisciplinary Cancer Management Course (MCMC) in September 2018 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The conference...
ASCO HAS PUBLISHED a new guideline, “Safe Handling of Hazardous Drugs: ASCO Standards,” to promote the safety of pharmacists, nurses, and all staff who handle potentially dangerous medicines, such as chemotherapy compounds.1 Safety is pivotal in the entire drug workflow, including drug mixing and...
ASCO ENDORSES and reinforces the evidence-based American Urological Association (AUA), American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), and the Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO) Guideline published in 2018 in the Journal of Urology. ASCO’s endorsement of a guideline on clinically localized...
THE MANAGEMENT of localized prostate cancer remains controversial. Although the widespread use of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing has resulted in a dramatic increase in the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer, many men do not benefit from intervention because the disease is either...
NYU LANGONE Health’s Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center has been designated a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Perlmutter Cancer Center is now among 50 cancer centers across the country to earn this distinction. Perlmutter Cancer Center received an overall...
KENNETH SHAIN, MD, PhD, Director of the Myeloma Working Group at Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida, told The ASCO Post that ixazomib is “an effective drug,” but he is not ready to use it as maintenance therapy. He noted that the TOURMALINE-MM3 trial did meet its primary endpoint—but not...
IN PATIENTS with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma who responded well to induction therapy and underwent transplant, 2 years of maintenance therapy with ixazomib led to a 38% improvement in progression-free survival compared with placebo, according to the results of the phase III TOURMALINE-MM3...
THE ASCO POST asked Ajay K. Nooka, MD, MPH, Associate Professor, Division of Bone Marrow Transplant at Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, to comment on studies involving daratumumab. “After the phase III SWOG S0777 trial demonstrated a survival benefit with a 3-drug induction regimen...
THE PHASE III IMpassion130 trial, first reported at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2018 Congress1 and published in The New England Journal of Medicine,2 found that the combination of front-line atezolizumab plus nab-paclitaxel significantly improved disease-free and overall...
A NEW ASCO guideline, “Management of the Neck in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Oral Cavity and Oropharynx: ASCO Clinical Practice Guideline,” aims to clarify issues in lymph node management.1 “This guideline represents a true multidisciplinary synthesis of some important new information about...
ON MARCH 5, 2019, Scott Gottlieb, MD, announced his resignation as Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a post he began in 2017. Dr. Gottlieb’s resignation will be effective in April. In a resignation letter to Alex M. Azar II, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS),...
WHEN BRANDON CANYON’S mother Leone was diagnosed with uterine cancer, he drove her to treatment sessions at the nearest cancer center—a 200-mile round trip on rough roads. Gas was a significant expense, but their only other option was to forgo treatment. The Canyons are members of the Navajo...
IN A MOVE that is a significant departure from current testing recommendations, the American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS) recommends that genetic testing be available to all individuals newly diagnosed with breast cancer.1 The new recommendations expand on common restrictions by the National...
CITY OF HOPE announced recently that it received its third lymphoma Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The grant covers a 5-year period and totals $12.5 million. SPORE grants involve both basic as well as clinical and applied...
DISCUSSANT OF the abstract presented by Pinato et al, Jason Luke, MD, FACP, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center, called the survival difference for patients receiving antibiotics prior to checkpoint blockade “rather dramatic and quite...
USE OF ANTIBIOTICS prior to checkpoint blockade therapy may attenuate anticancer activity, according to data presented at the 2019 ASCO–Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Clinical Immuno-Oncology Symposium.1 Results of the multicenter study suggest that antibiotic therapy administered...
EMMANUEL S. ANTONARAKIS, MD, Associate Professor of Oncology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, commented on the state of current knowledge about poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors in prostate cancer. “PARP inhibitors are definitely making inroads in the management of patients with...
MULTIPLE POLY (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors are under study in metastatic prostate cancer and no clear winner has emerged yet. Some studies suggest that the best use of PARP inhibitors may be in patients whose cancers harbor DNA-repair defects and BRCA1/2 mutations, but other data...
FORMAL STUDY discussant Matthew I. Milowsky, MD, of the University of North Carolina, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Chapel Hill, said there had been few drug approvals in advanced bladder cancer until 5 new checkpoint inhibitors were approved over the past 2 years. “Although these agents...
THE ANNUAL GASTROINTESTINAL CANCERS SYMPOSIUM took place earlier this year in San Francisco. In addition to important studies captured in our past few issues, The ASCO Post here briefly summarizes additional interesting studies. Adjuvant Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy in Colon Cancer...
YOU CANNOT write about caring; you must practice it. None of us went to medical school thinking we would be an oncologist or a neurosurgeon or a stem cell biologist. But we did have vague aspirations of wanting to help others: to be involved in other lives. It was an altruistic avocation; how...
PATIENTS WITH advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) may no longer have to come to the clinic every 2 weeks for treatment. According to a descriptive analysis of the phase IIIb/IV CheckMate 384 study, a more convenient dosing option of nivolumab has demonstrated convincing short-term safety...
Fewer women are assigned to a dense-breast category when evaluated with advanced mammographic screening technologies compared to standard digital mammography, according to a new study published by Gastounioti et al in Radiology. Density Assessment A woman’s breast density is assessed during ...
A new method of determining the sequence of molecules in DNA can be used to detect small fragments of cancerous genetic material in blood samples from patients with lung cancer with a high degree of accuracy, according research published by Li et al in Annals of Oncology. Liquid Biopsies and...
New research published by Dinan et al in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network provides evidence that genomic recurrence score testing using the 21-gene assay is associated with decreased cancer care costs in real-world practice among certain patients with breast...
A treatment previously shown to treat the precancerous skin lesions called actinic keratosis now appears to also reduce the chance that these pretreated lesions will develop into squamous cell carcinoma. In a report published by Rosenberg et al in JCI Insight, researchers found that treatment with...
This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) posted a safety statement on the investigational use of venetoclax in multiple myeloma, and also posted a warning letter against a company for illegally marketing unapproved products labeled as homeopathic. Safety Statement The FDA posted...
Frederick L. Locke, MD, of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, discusses recent approvals of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies in leukemia and lymphoma, and how clinicians are using infrastructure, navigation, and early referrals to maximize response and minimize...
In an analysis of the phase III CALGB/SWOG 80405 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Innocenti et al found that tumor mutational burden and microsatellite instability status affected overall survival in patients receiving first-line chemotherapy plus bevacizumab or cetuximab for...
A study among epithelial ovarian cancer survivors from 25 cooperative Gynecologic Cancer Intergroup centers in France showed similar quality of life compared to healthy controls who were randomly selected from the electoral rolls, but persistent long-term fatigue. The researchers found depression,...
A study of over 64,000 women of childbearing age in the United States has found that infertility is associated with a higher risk of developing cancer compared to a group of over 3 million women without fertility problems—although the absolute risk is very low, at just 2%. These findings ...
A new study published by Zarrinpar et al in Liver International has found that elderly, diabetic, and Hispanic patients with steatohepatitis—fatty liver disease—may have a higher risk of developing liver cancer. Ali Zarrinpar, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Surgery at the...
In the phase II TBCRC 022 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Freedman et al found that the combination of neratinib and capecitabine was active against brain metastases in women with HER2-positive breast cancer. Modest activity of neratinib monotherapy had been found in previous...
Mark K. Ferguson, MD, of the University of Chicago Hospital, discusses frailty and loss of muscle tissue, which are common among patients with lung cancer. These conditions are linked with decreased survival as well as increased surgical complications, chemotherapy toxicity, and cost of care.
Ruqin Chen, MB, of the Mayo Clinic Florida, discusses early study findings that show molecular profiling with NF1, CD79a, and AKT3 could potentially improve prediction of progression-free survival in patients with lung cancer who are receiving immunotherapy.
Results from a clinical trial presented by Cibula et al at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology’s (SGO) 50th Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer showed that a new immunotherapy treatment significantly prolongs survival in women with recurrent ovarian cancer when added to standard...
Most oncologists are comfortable treating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) patients with cancer, according to a survey of 149 oncologists from 45 National Cancer Institute–designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, but not as confident in their knowledge of the...