A newly published guideline update from ASCO and Ontario Health provides evidence-based recommendations on the use of systemic therapy for small cell lung cancer (SCLC).1 Recommendations cover where novel agents fit in the treatment landscape, the management of disease in older patients with...
Except for a series of unexplained multiple broken bones and inexplicable excruciating pain in my right hip and leg, I had no other hallmarks of multiple myeloma when I was diagnosed with the disease at age 48 in 2014. My blood test values were all normal, and I didn’t have anemia or kidney damage. ...
Investigators have found that implementing the updated World Health Organization (WHO) screening guidelines may effectively reduce the cervical cancer mortality rate in patients residing in low- and middle-income countries, according to two recent studies published by Simms et al and Hall et al in...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil, and colleagues, a 5-year analysis of the IDEA trial showed a very low rate of recurrence with the omission of radiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery in patients at low clinical and genomic risk for disease ...
Adding the antibody-drug conjugate ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) to the HER2-targeted agent tucatinib extended progression-free survival by about 2 months vs treatment with T-DM1 alone among patients with unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer, according to...
Researchers have uncovered that psilocybin-assisted therapy may be safe and effective in patients with cancer and comorbid major depressive disorder, according to two novel studies published by Agrawal et al and Beaussant et al in Cancer. Background Psilocybin is a hallucinogenic chemical found in...
Older patients with Philadelphia chromosome–positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who were not candidates for the standard treatment of intensive chemotherapy had a median overall survival of 6.5 years on an alternative regimen of dasatinib and blinatumomab, according to long-term results...
The targeted therapy bezuclastinib may be safe and effective at reducing markers of disease burden and improving symptoms in patients with nonadvanced systemic mastocytosis, according to recent findings published by Bose et al at the 2023 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting &...
Two new studies have demonstrated positive results from novel therapies targeting menin for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with specific gene mutations, according to findings presented by Jabbour et al (Abstract 57) and Issa et al (Abstract 58) at ...
Among patients who have acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with genetic mutations in NPM1, those with no residual leukemia cells in the blood based on high-sensitivity testing after two cycles of chemotherapy achieved high rates of overall survival at 3 years and saw no additional survival benefit from...
On December 13, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved eflornithine (Iwilfin), an irreversible inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase, to reduce the risk of relapse in adult and pediatric patients with high-risk neuroblastoma who have demonstrated at least a partial response to prior...
Newly diagnosed patients with multiple myeloma who received daratumumab along with the standard care regimen of bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (VRd) had significantly higher rates of survival without disease progression compared with those who received VRd alone. Results from the phase ...
Researchers may have uncovered the underlying mechanisms of gene mutations commonly seen in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes and other myeloid neoplasms, according to new findings presented by Chaudhry et al at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition (Abstract...
Patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma who received ibrutinib in combination with venetoclax experienced significantly better rates of progression-free survival compared with patients who received ibrutinib and placebo, according to findings from the international phase III...
Early results from a new study have demonstrated that the novel chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy AT101 resulted in favorable complete response rates at higher dose levels in patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, according to new findings simultaneously...
A novel artificial intelligence (AI) model may help physicians distinguish and identify prefibrotic primary myelofibrosis from essential thrombocythemia, according to new findings presented by Srisuwananukorn et al at the 2023 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition...
Among patients newly diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who were treated with two targeted agents and whose duration of treatment was determined by high-sensitivity testing for residual cancer cells in the blood, 97.2% were free of cancer progression and 2% had died at 3 years. By...
Investigators have found that in the past decade, a majority of the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) active R01 grants related to classical, nonmalignant hematology were led by male investigators, according to new findings presented by Khan et al at the 2023 American Society of Hematology...
Researchers may have uncovered a close link between genetic factors and racial disparities in pediatric patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to new findings presented by Lamba et al at the 2023 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition (Abstract 386)....
Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, of Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, discusses updated phase III results from the TROPION-Breast01 study. The data showed an improvement in progression-free survival with datopotamab deruxtecan compared with investigator’s choice of chemotherapy across all...
Syed Ali Abutalib, MD, is taking his talents to the recently affiliated Aurora Health Care, now part of Advocate Health, one of the largest integrated health systems in the United States. He accepted a new position at Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center in Milwaukee, where he is now Director of the...
Invited discussant Krishnansu Tewari, MD, Associate Professor in the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at the University of California, Irvine, said two new approaches for locally advanced cervical cancer, as described at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2023, represent...
A pair of studies evaluating the impact of the Oncology Care Model (OCM) has highlighted challenges in improving quality of the value-based payment model, according to data presented at the 2023 ASCO Quality Care Symposium. Both studies were conducted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid...
In patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer, the addition of the PD-L1–inhibiting monoclonal antibody atezolizumab to first-line chemotherapy plus the angiogenesis inhibitor bevacizumab significantly improved all efficacy outcomes and yielded a median overall survival that exceeded 2.5 ...
Although significant progress has been made to reduce the gap in health outcomes of minority or underserved patients, meaningful steps forward still need to be made to improve health disparities. Countless studies have shown, in general, that affluent White individuals have better health outcomes...
Initial findings from the global phase II EDGE-Gastric trial indicate the potential for two novel immune checkpoint inhibitors to improve outcomes in advanced gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma. The findings were reported at the November 2023 ASCO Plenary Session by Yelena Y. Janjigian, MD, Chief of...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with Nina Shah, MD, Global Head of Multiple Myeloma Clinical Development and Strategy, Hematology, Oncology Research and Development at AstraZeneca. She is a hematologist who specializes in...
Lung cancer incidence overall has been declining in the United States since 1992—and since 2006–2007 for both men and women by 2.7% annually and 1.1%, respectively—and overall mortality rates have declined in both men and women because of smoking cessation efforts and advances in therapy and early...
Datopotamab deruxtecan (Dato-DXd), a TROP-2–directed antibody-drug conjugate, improved progression-free survival by 25% on blinded independent committee review in previously treated patients with advanced or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and it was reported to be less toxic than...
Session moderator S. Vincent Rajkumar, MD, Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and Chair of the Mayo Clinic Myeloma, Amyloidosis, and Dysproteinemia Group, commented on the GMMG-CONCEPT trial and other studies in newly diagnosed patients. “There are two strategies to...
For the treatment of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma with high-risk features, a quadruplet regimen of the anti-CD38 antibody isatuximab plus carfilzomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (Isa-KRd) induced high rates of measurable residual disease (MRD) negativity, both in transplant-eligible and...
Comprehensive profiling of fusion RNAs present in a large cohort of metastatic breast tumors revealed unique fusion mutations that may be therapeutically targetable, according to results presented at the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (Abstract GS03-09). Fusion mutations occur when a...
For the treatment of advanced melanoma that is refractory to anti–PD-1 antibodies, there is no standard approach. The various options, with a look to the future, were discussed by Melinda L. Yushak, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Hematology and Oncology at Emory University School of Medicine, at...
Almost all postmenopausal patients aged 50 to 69 with stage I hormone receptor–positive breast cancer and low scores on a common genetic test who opted out of adjuvant radiotherapy were disease-free 5 years after surgery, according to results from the IDEA clinical trial presented at the 2023 San...
Two studies led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center demonstrated clinical benefit from novel targeted therapies, which may offer new treatment options for patients with metastatic hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative breast cancer. The data were shared in oral...
A novel risk model may be effective at using baseline sociodemographic and financial measures to predict the risk of long-term aromatase inhibitor nonadherence among patients with breast cancer, according to new findings presented by Hershman et al at the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium...
A novel selective biomarker tool (Troplex) may help select which antibody-drug conjugate therapy could be most effective in patients with metastatic breast cancer, according to findings presented by Robbins et al at the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (Abstract PO3-13-11). Background...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Yohann Loriot, MD, PhD, and colleagues, cohort 1 of the phase III THOR trial has shown improved overall survival with erdafitinib vs chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced, unresectable, or metastatic urothelial carcinoma with...
A combination of two HER2-targeted drugs—tucatinib and ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1), extended progression-free survival among patients with unresectable, locally advanced, or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer compared with T-DM1 alone, according to results from the HER2CLIMB-02 trial...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Bradley J. Monk, MD, and colleagues, the phase III CALLA trial showed no significant improvement in progression-free survival with the addition of durvalumab to chemoradiotherapy in previously untreated patients with locally advanced cervical cancer. Study...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Josep M. Llovet, MD, and colleagues, the phase III LEAP-002 trial has shown that the addition of pembrolizumab to lenvatinib in the first-line treatment of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma did not reach statistical superiority thresholds for overall or...
Investigators have found that lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adolescent and young adult cancer survivors in the United States may be more likely to report chronic health conditions compared with their LGB peers without a cancer diagnosis and heterosexual counterparts with a history of cancer,...
In a combined analysis of two Chinese phase II trials (RC48-C005 and RC48-C009) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sheng et al found that the antibody-drug conjugate disitamab vedotin—an anti-HER2 antibody conjugated with monomethyl auristatin—produced promising results in patients with...
William J. Catalona, MD, of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, reviews the genetic landscape in prostate cancer, including BRCA2 and ATM, two important mutations for aggressive disease; the clinical implications of germline testing such as guiding screening and disease management, ...
On December 1, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to pirtobrutinib (Jaypirca) for adult patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) who have received at least two prior lines of therapy, including a Bruton’s tyrosine...
In the phase II SPRINT trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ohri et al found that a chemotherapy-sparing regimen of pembrolizumab with risk-adapted radiotherapy was associated with good outcomes in patients with stage III or unresectable stage II non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)...
The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2023 held in Madrid reported out several eagerly awaited and potentially practice-changing trials, bringing forward promising new combination strategies in the targeted and immunotherapy space, and put to the test selective agents against...
The addition of immune checkpoint inhibitors to perioperative chemotherapy for gastric and gastroesophageal junction cancers boosts pathologic complete response rates, but the ultimate impact on clinical outcomes remains unclear, according to interim analyses from two phase III trials presented at...
The combination of sotorasib and panitumumab significantly improved progression-free survival compared with standard treatment in patients with chemotherapy-refractory metastatic colorectal cancer with KRAS G12C mutations, the phase III CodeBreaK 300 trial has shown. The KRAS G12C inhibitor...
Invited discussant Andrea Apolo, MD, of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, emphasized that the EV-302/KEYNOTE-A39 and CheckMate 901 trials mark a significant achievement. “Outperforming chemotherapy in first-line therapy is monumental for our field. The two studies presented are...