Harmonization of big data in examining acute and long-term outcomes with contemporary treatment for pediatric and adult patients with Hodgkin lymphoma is yielding a new approach to inform future clinical trial design and enhance clinical decision-making, according to a statement by Rutgers Cancer...
Due to COVID-19, this year’s ASCO Annual Meeting was convened using a virtual format. It was multidisciplinary, featuring more than 250 oral and 2,500 poster presentations from around the world in 24 disease-based and specialty tracks. Among the exciting talks in the session on symptoms and...
Black patients are better represented in taxpayer-funded cancer clinical trials compared to trials run by pharmaceutical companies, although they remain underrepresented in clinical trials, regardless of sponsor. These results were published by Joseph M. Unger, PhD, and colleagues in JNCI Cancer...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched Project Patient Voice, an initiative of the FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE). Through a new website, Project Patient Voice creates a consistent source of publicly available information describing patient-reported symptoms from cancer ...
As reported in The Lancet by Kuderer et al, a cohort study using the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19) database has shown that increased risk of severe COVID-19 in patients with cancer is associated with such factors as age, comorbidities, performance status, hematologic malignancy, and...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Hayashi et al, the Children’s Oncology Group AALL0434 study has shown “excellent” outcomes with Capizzi-based methotrexate/pegaspargase (C-MTX) treatment in patients with newly diagnosed pediatric T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma (T-LL). The addition...
Paul G. Richardson, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses early results on a cereblon E3 ligase modulator agent combined with dexamethasone in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, with an overall response rate of 48%. The study is ongoing to further optimize dose and...
Nikhil C. Munshi, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses initial results from the KarMMa tria, showing that idecabtagene vicleucel, a B-cell maturation antigen-targeted CAR T-cell therapy, demonstrated deep and durable responses in patients with heavily pretreated relapsed or refractory...
DESTINY-CRC01 study discussant, Michael S. Lee, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, called the findings “most promising” for the subsequent anti-HER2 treatment of HER2-positive metastatic colorectal cancer. The...
Having recently gained approval in metastatic breast cancer, fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) is now proving its worth in metastatic colorectal cancer, according to results of the phase II DESTINY-CRC01 study in patients with HER2-positive disease.1 T-DXd is an antibody-drug conjugate...
A new study has found higher medical and nonmedical financial hardships are independently associated with more emergency department visits, lower receipt of some preventive services, and worse self-rated health in cancer survivors. The authors of the study warn that as health-care costs grow, unmet ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Garbe et al found that melanoma-specific survival rates for patients with stage III disease differed markedly in three independent cohorts compared with those reported in American Joint Committee on Cancer version 8 (AJCCv8) stage III...
Lipophilic statins—a type of medication commonly prescribed to lower blood cholesterol—were associated with reduced mortality in patients with ovarian cancer, according to a study presented by Kala Visvanathan, MD, MHS, and colleagues at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Virtual...
In a phase I study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Mellinghoff et al found that ivosidenib was well tolerated in patients with IDH1-mutant advanced glioma and was associated with prolonged disease control in those with nonenhancing glioma. Study Details The study included 66 evaluable ...
A new clinical guideline from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) provides recommendations for radiation therapy to treat patients with nonmetastatic cervical cancer. The guideline—ASTRO's first for cervical cancer—outlines indications and best practices for external-beam radiation...
On June 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved oral selinexor (Xpovio), a first-in-class, selective inhibitor of nuclear export compound, for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) not otherwise specified after at least...
Parameswaran Hari, MD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin, discusses phase III data from a 6-year follow-up of the STaMINA trial, which compared progression-free survival among 758 patients with high-risk multiple myeloma who received a second autologous transplant and lenalidomide maintenance;...
Discussant for the CheckMate 227 and CheckMate 9LA trials, Scott N. Gettinger, MD, of Yale Cancer Center in New Haven, Connecticut, said: “There is tremendous interest in lung cancer to combine nivolumab plus ipilimumab, driven by the melanoma experience. However, combinations of immunotherapy come ...
A study by Bencomo-Alvarez et al investigating the incidence and survival for Hispanic patients with hematologic malignancies living along the United States/Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, has found that those patients with acute myeloid leukemia, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or chronic myeloid...
It is becoming more challenging to select first-line therapy for advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) for patients whose tumors have no EGFR or ALK alterations. The results of two different studies presented at the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program—CheckMate 227 and CheckMate 9LA—support the ...
According to the National Cancer Institute, each year, about 70,000 adolescents and young adults (AYA)—those between the ages of 15 and 39—are diagnosed with cancer. Evidence suggests that some cancers found in AYA patients may have unique genetic and biologic features. A study that investigated...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Tian et al identified factors associated with severity of illness in patients with cancer hospitalized for COVID-19 over a 2-month period in Wuhan. Study Details The study included all patients aged ≥ 18 years with any type of solid...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Gul et al found that salvage therapy with nivolumab/ipilimumab was capable of producing a response after prior programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) pathway inhibitor therapy in some patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Study Details The...
Over the past month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Fast Track designation to agents designed to treat colorectal and pancreatic cancers, in addition to lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma/Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia; accepted a new drug application for a treatment for relapsed or...
A novel treatment for patients with advanced mesothelioma is safe and effective and may improve the quality of life for patients who have few treatment options, according to a research abstract presented during a virtual session of the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) 2020 Annual...
Data from one of the first clinical uses of augmented reality guidance with electromagnetically tracked tools shows that the technology may help doctors quickly, safely, and accurately deliver targeted liver cancer treatments, according to a research abstract presented during a virtual session of...
In an International Rare Cancers Initiative phase II trial (InterAAct) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Rao et al found that carboplatin/paclitaxel was associated with less serious toxicity and a trend toward improved overall survival vs cisplatin/fluorouracil in chemotherapy-naive...
In a cohort analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Rusthoven et al found that first-line stereotactic radiosurgery was associated with similar outcomes as whole-brain radiotherapy in patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) brain metastases. As stated by the investigators, “Although stereotactic...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Emily H. Castellanos, MD, MPH, and colleagues found that the requirement for Medicare Oncology Care Model (OCM) practices to report biomarker testing of patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has not substantially altered the...
Suresh S. Ramalingam, MD, of Emory University, discusses a 3-year update from the CheckMate 227, Part 1, trial, which showed that nivolumab plus ipilimumab continued to provide durable and long-term overall survival benefit vs platinum-doublet chemotherapy as first-line treatment for patients with...
Nirav Niranjan Shah, MD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin, explores whether autologous transplantation, in patients with relapsed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma who achieve only a PET/CT-positive partial remission, is appropriate in the era of CAR T-cell therapy (Abstract 8000).
On June 18, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to tazemetostat (Tazverik), an EZH2 inhibitor, for adult patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma whose tumors are positive for an EZH2 mutation as detected by an FDA-approved test and who have...
A minimally invasive procedure that destroys cancer cells by freezing them may be an option other than surgery for treating early-stage kidney cancer. The two methods showed similar 10-year survival rates, with cryoablation showing a lower rate of complications, according to a study published by...
As reported by Lee et al in The Lancet, a prospective cohort study from the United Kingdom performed by the UK Coronavirus Cancer Monitoring Project (UKCCMP) has found that increased risk of COVID-19 mortality in patients with cancer is associated with such factors as age, sex, and comorbidities,...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Qin et al identified combinations of pathogenic germline mutations in DNA repair genes and cancer treatment exposures that increased risk of subsequent neoplasms in long-term survivors of childhood cancer. Study Details The study involved...
In the phase II L-MIND trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Gilles Salles, MD, and colleagues found that the combination of the Fc-enhanced anti-CD19 monoclonal antibody tafasitamab plus lenalidomide produced responses in patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma...
Rachel E. Sanborn, MD, of the Providence Cancer Institute, discusses three key abstracts on EGFR-mutated non–small cell lung cancer: a final overall survival analysis of bevacizumab plus erlotinib; concurrent osimertinib plus gefitinib for first-line treatment; and first-line treatment with a...
By analyzing tumors from patients treated with immunotherapy for advanced kidney cancer in three clinical trials, scientists have identified several features of the tumors that influence their response to immune checkpoint inhibitors. The research was presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Jean-Yves Blay, MD, and colleagues, the phase III INVICTUS trial has shown that the oral KIT and PDGFRα tyrosine kinase inhibitor ripretinib prolonged progression-free survival vs placebo in patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) whose...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Petersdorf et al found that level of expression of patient HLA-DPB1 mismatches and number of mismatches affect risk of acute graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) after unrelated donor hematopoietic cell transplantation. Study Details The study...
The American Cancer Society has updated its guideline on diet and physical activity for cancer prevention. Staying at a healthy weight, staying active throughout life, following a healthy eating pattern, and avoiding or limiting alcohol may greatly reduce a person's lifetime risk of developing or...
On June 16, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with unresectable or metastatic tumor mutational burden–high (TMB-H; ≥ 10 mutations/megabase [mut/Mb]) solid tumors, as determined by an ...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Yang et al described clinical characteristics, outcomes, and risk factors for mortality in patients with cancer hospitalized with COVID-19 over a 2-month period in Hubei, China. Study Details The study included 205 patients with...
In a long-term follow-up of the phase II SABR-COMET trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, David A. Palma, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that the addition of stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) to palliative standard-of-care treatment in patients with oligometastatic cancers...
In the phase II portion of a single-center phase I/II trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Yu et al found that the combination of first-line osimertinib and bevacizumab resulted in a high rate of 1-year progression-free survival in patients with metastatic EGFR-mutant lung cancer. As stated by the...
New research published by Lage et al in JNCCN–Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network found 40.2% of hospitalized patients with advanced, incurable cancer were functionally impaired at the time of admission—meaning they needed assistance with activities of daily living like walking,...
On June 16, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) extended the indication of gemtuzumab ozogamicin (Mylotarg) for newly diagnosed CD33-positive acute myeloid leukemia (AML) to include pediatric patients aged 1 month and older. AAML0531 Efficacy and safety in the pediatric population were...
On June 15, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to lurbinectedin (Zepzelca) for adult patients with metastatic small cell lung cancer (SCLC) whose disease progressed on or after platinum-based chemotherapy. PM1183-B-005-14 Trial Efficacy was demonstrated in the...
The availability of an oral selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD) would be good news for patients and clinicians as an alternative to intramuscular fulvestrant. The novel agent LSZ102 might fit the bill, based on early activity shown in combination with the targeted agents ribociclib and...
Advances in the treatment of hematologic malignancies and some of their associated symptoms were presented during EHA25 Virtual, an ongoing online conference from the European Hematology Association (EHA). Advances in the Treatment of High-Risk CLL: CLL2-GIVe Results In the CLL2-GIVe trial, the...