Xiuning Le, MD, PhD Assistant Professor The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer CenterSpecialty: Thoracic/head & neck cancer, breast cancer Of all the adjectives used to describe cancer, one in particular can be surprising: smart. In fact, one of the reasons cancer can be so hard to treat...
Columbia University and NewYork-Presbyterian announced that Florence Irving and her late husband, Herbert Irving, have given $700 million to the two institutions to advance research and clinical programs for the treatment of cancer. The Irvings’ historic gift will have a profound impact on research ...
ASCO’s Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) Study has expanded four cohorts for enrollment of additional participants and continues to grow, with more than 500 participants and 16 therapies now available. The TAPUR Study is designed to identify signals of activity of...
On November 16, 2017, obinutuzumab (Gazyva) was granted regular approval in combination with chemotherapy, followed by obinutuzumab monotherapy for patients achieving at least a partial remission, for the treatment of adult patients with previously untreated stage II bulky, III, or IV follicular...
AS REPORTED in The Lancet Oncology by Matthijs Oudkerk, MD, of the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, and colleagues, a European Union (EU) expert group has issued a position statement on low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening for lung cancer, proposing a near-term phased implementation ...
A SUPERVISED and individualized exercise program can reduce fatigue and pain while improving cardiovascular health and quality of life in women being treated for advanced breast cancer, according to research presented by Eduardo Oliveira, PhD, Professor of Exercise Physiology and Exercise Cancer...
In the not-so-distant past, clinical trials were considered an option only for the young and fit. Enrolling older people “used to be thought unethical,” said Janet Woodcock, MD, Director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), as she opened...
IN PATIENTS WITH estrogen receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer, better quality of life may be prolonged by delaying the progression of the disease, according to an ongoing quality-of-life assessment from the PALOMA-2 study, presented by Nadia Harbeck, MD, PhD, of...
On November 16, 2017, sunitinib malate (Sutent) was approved for the adjuvant treatment of adult patients at high risk of recurrent renal cell carcinoma following nephrectomy.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on the findings of the double-blind phase III S-TRAC trial in which 615...
SINCE 2003, every iteration of the American Cancer Society’s Nutrition Guidelines for Cancer Survivors has advocated for a plant-based diet with ample quantities of whole grains, as well as vegetables and fruits.1-3 This recommendation has been based primarily on data that such foods play in...
Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, part of Montefiore, and Hackensack Meridian Health John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center have secured a 5-year, $6.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to identify biomarkers that may predict...
Despite advances in prevention, early detection, and treatments, lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. Although cigarette smoking is the main cause of lung cancer, about 10% of these patients are lifelong never smokers for whom the molecular...
On December 19, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted regular -approval to cabozantinib -(Cabometyx) for treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The FDA previously approved cabozantinib in 2016 for treatment of patients with advanced RCC who have...
In 2017, the District of Columbia (DC) became the seventh jurisdiction in the United States to legalize medical aid in dying,1 which gives terminally ill patients the option of how and when they die. The new DC statute is nearly identical to earlier enacted medical aid in dying statutes in...
BOSUTINIB ( BOSULIF) is the latest tyrosine kinase inhibitor that has shown a superior molecular response profile when compared with imatinib.1,2 An orally available dual SRC/ABL1 inhibitor, the drug was shown in preclinical studies to have a potent inhibitory activity against BCR-ABL1 and minimal ...
For nearly 20 years, chemoradiation using single-agent platinum therapy has been the standard of care for advanced or recurrent cervical cancer.1 More recently, the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) 240 trial tested the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to platinum-based chemotherapy, which...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Jean-Sebastien Frenel, MD, of the Institut de Cancerologie de l’Ouest, Centre Rene Gauducheau, Saint-Herblain, France, and colleagues, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) treatment was found to be active in patients with programmed cell death ligand 1...
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), from 1999 to 2015, more than 183,000 people have died in the United States from overdoses related to prescription opioids, including methadone, oxycodone, and hydrocodone.1 To stem the epidemic in prescription opioid–related use and ...
INCREASING THE DOSE density of chemotherapy lowers the risk of recurrence and breast cancer death by about 15% in women with early breast cancer, according to a large, meticulously conducted meta-analysis by the Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group (EBCTCG).1 The trials included in...
KIMBERLY BLACKWELL, MD, one of the nation’s leading breast cancer researchers, will join Lilly Oncology as Vice President of Early Phase Development and Immuno-oncology as of March 12, 2018. Dr. Blackwell is currently Professor of Medicine and Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at Duke...
COMMENTING ON THIS STUDY, Marisa Weiss, MD, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Breastcancer.org, said: “It is great to see a compliance rate of 80% at 2 years. When you talk to a patient about extending adjuvant therapy for 2 years instead of 5 extra years, it may be this will encourage...
An additional 5 years of aromatase inhibitor therapy after 5 years of adjuvant endocrine therapy failed to improve disease-free survival compared with an additional 2 years of aromatase inhibitor therapy in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer, according to the results ...
PREMENOPAUSAL WOMEN with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer benefited substantially from the addition of ribociclib (Kisqali) to first-line endocrine therapy plus medical ovarian suppression, according to results from the MONALEESA-7 study.1 At the 2017 San Antonio...
FRONT-LINE TREATMENT of advanced Hodgkin lymphoma with brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) plus doxorubicin/ vinblastine/dacarbazine (A+AVD) achieved superior outcomes compared with the standard four-drug regimen of doxorubicin/bleomycin/vinblastine/dacarbazine (ABVD). The substitution of brentuximab...
Immunotherapy in PD-L1–Positive Advanced Cervical Cancer Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) treatment was active in patients with programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1)–positive advanced cervical cancer enrolled in the phase Ib KEYNOTE-028 trial. The findings were reported by Jean-Sebastien Frenel, MD, of...
THE COMBINATION of ibrutinib (Imbruvica) plus venetoclax (Venclexta) achieved favorable responses in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to initial results of the phase II CLARITY trial presented at the 2017 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual ...
COMMENTING ON the ALCYONE trial for The ASCO Post, Keith Stewart, MB, ChB, the Carlson and Nelson Endowed Director of the Center for Individualized Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, said, “Daratumumab added to a combination of drugs that we don’t use much anymore in the United...
FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED multiple myeloma patients not eligible for transplant, the addition of the anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody daratumumab (Darzalex) to subcutaneous bortezomib (Velcade), melphalan, and prednisone (VMP) reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 50%, the phase III ALCYONE...
POSITIVE DATA about chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in lymphoma continue to accrue. Long-term follow-up of the pivotal ZUMA-1 trial shows that patients with refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) continue to have durable responses to the CD19-directed CAR T-cell therapy...
THE UNIVERSITY of Edinburgh Medical School was established in 1726 during the Scottish Enlightenment. As one of the oldest medical schools in the English-speaking world, it is interesting to reflect on the seminal contributions made centuries ago by several alumni that are still relevant to the...
On December 19, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) released a Draft Evidence Report assessing the comparative clinical effectiveness and value of tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah) and axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta). The draft report, along with draft voting...
On December 20, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted regular approval to pertuzumab (Perjeta) for use in combination with trastuzumab (Herceptin) and chemotherapy as adjuvant treatment of patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer at high risk of recurrence. APHINITY...
On December 19, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted regular approval to cabozantinib (Cabometyx) for treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The FDA previously approved cabozantinib in 2016 for treatment of patients with advanced RCC who have received...
On December 19, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to bosutinib (Bosulif) for treatment of patients with newly diagnosed chronic-phase Philadelphia chromosome–positive chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). BFORE Trial Approval was based on data from ...
Howard A. “Skip” Burris III, MD, FACP, FASCO, a long-time member and volunteer, has been elected to serve as the President of ASCO for the term beginning in June 2019. He will take office as President-Elect during the ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago in June 2018. Additionally, five...
The Federal Communications Commission’s Connect2Health Task Force (C2HFCC) has announced that the FCC and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have joined forces, signing a memorandum of understanding that will focus on how increasing broadband access and adoption in rural areas can improve...
In a study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Bickell et al found underuse of treatment for clinically significant prostate cancer was infrequent among white and black patients at two New York City hospitals, but black men accounted for nearly all such underuse of treatment. As noted by...
As reported at the recent American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting & Exposition and in The New England Journal of Medicine, Schuster et al found that chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy produced responses in a high proportion of patients with B-cell lymphomas refractory to or...
The phase III KEYNOTE-061 trial investigating pembrolizumab (Keytruda) as a second-line treatment for patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma did not meet its primary endpoint of overall survival (OS) (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.82, 95% confidence interval [CI] = ...
The American Medical Association (AMA) is reminding physicians that the Medicare reimbursement system has changed, and, if they have not done so already, they have until December 31, 2017, to take a few simple steps to avoid a Medicare payment penalty in 2019. The changes are part of the...
On December 6, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) delivered a letter from the current AACR President and Past Presidents—as well as Fellows of the AACR Academy that include 18 Nobel Laureates—to urge leaders in the House and Senate to “move quickly to finalize a...
On December 5, Clovis Oncology announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for rucaparib (Rubraca) and granted Priority Review status to the application, with a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) date of April 6, 2018. In...
At the Special Conference on Pediatric Cancer Research, convened in Atlanta by the American Association for Cancer Research, investigators announced updated clinical data from the larotrectinib (LOXO-101) pediatric phase I SCOUT trial. Bayer and Loxo Oncology are jointly developing larotrectinib,...
Ulixertinib (BVD-523) is an ERK1/2 kinase inhibitor with potent preclinical activity in BRAF- and RAS-mutant cell lines. Now, a multicenter phase I study investigating its safety and efficacy in the treatment of patients with advanced solid tumors has found that ulixertinib to have an acceptable...
On December 13, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted a supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for priority review of nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) to treat intermediate- and poor-risk patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma. The FDA also previously...
At the 59th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, Wang et al presented results from the open-label, single-arm phase II ACE-LY-004 clinical trial, which served as the basis for the recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accelerated approval of acalabrutinib...
People with cancer face an increased risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE). Under current guidelines, cancer patients who develop VTE are prescribed low–molecular-weight heparin, an anticoagulant that must be injected under the skin daily for several months. While effective, this regimen can...
In a phase III trial, patients with acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), a rare blood clotting disorder, who received the investigational drug caplacizumab showed significant improvements in the time it took to normalization of their platelet count compared to those receiving a...
An analysis from the Children’s Oncology Group Study AREN0532 reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Fernandez et al showed that positive lymph nodes and loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at chromosome 1p or 16q are associated with poorer event-free survival in patients with stage III...
In the phase III MURANO trial, treatment with the targeted cancer drug venetoclax (Venclexta) in combination with rituximab (Rituxan) more than doubled the likelihood that patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) would survive for 2 years without cancer progression, compared to treatment...