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Showing 11701 - 117502018 ASCO: Pexidartinib in Tenosynovial Giant Cell Tumor
The phase III ENLIVEN study showed a statistically significant 39% overall response rate at week 25 based on central review of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans using Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST), version 1.1 (the primary endpoint) for patients treated with oral...
ASCO 2018: Updated ALEX Trial Results on Alectinib in Treatment-Naive ALK Mutation–Positive NSCLC
Updated results of the global phase III ALEX trial comparing alectinib (Alecensa) with crizotinib (Xalkori) as first-line treatment against ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) show a median progression-free survival of 34.8 months in 152 patients treated with alectinib vs 10.9...
2018 ASCO: Neoadjuvant Use of PARP Inhibitor Shows Promise in Early-Stage, BRCA-Mutated Breast Cancer
In a small phase II study of early-stage breast cancer patients with BRCA1/2 mutations, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found that more than half of the women who took the PARP inhibitor talazoparib once daily prior to surgery had no evidence of disease at the time...
2018 ASCO: Aromatase Inhibitor Plus Ovarian Suppression Yields Benefit in High-Risk Premenopausal Patients With Breast Cancer
Premenopausal women with hormone receptor (HR)–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer and a high risk of recurrence who are treated with an aromatase inhibitor plus ovarian function suppression may gain a 10% to 15% improvement in freedom from distant recurrence at 8 years, according to a ...
FDA Approves First Biosimilar to Pegfilgrastim to Help Reduce the Risk of Infection During Myelosuppressive Chemotherapy
On June 4, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pegfilgrastim-jmdb (Fulphila) as the first biosimilar to pegfilgrastim (Neulasta) to decrease the chance of infection as suggested by febrile neutropenia in patients with nonmyeloid cancer who are receiving myelosuppressive...
2018 ASCO: Esomeprazole With Aspirin Offers Moderate Benefits in Patients With Barrett’s Esophagus
An updated analysis of a randomized phase III trial showed that taking a high dose of the acid-reducing medicine esomeprazole with low-dose aspirin for at least 7 years can moderately reduce the risk of developing high-grade dysplasia or esophageal cancer and delay death from any cause in people...
2018 ASCO: Adjuvant mFOLFIRINOX vs Gemcitabine in Resected Pancreatic Cancer
In a randomized phase III trial, patients with surgically removed pancreatic cancer who received mFOLFIRINOX (a modified regimen containing oxaliplatin, leucovorin, irinotecan, and fluorouracil) lived a median of 20 months longer and were cancer-free 9 months longer than those who received the...
2018 ASCO: Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy Does Not Add Benefit in Patients With Advanced Colorectal Cancer
A randomized phase III clinical trial showed that people with advanced colorectal cancer may not need a frequently considered component of treatment—heated chemotherapy delivered to the abdomen during surgery. There was no difference in survival between patients with metastases in the abdomen ...
2018 ASCO: Carmena Trial Compares Nephrectomy Plus Adjuvant Sunitinib vs Sunitinib Alone in Metastatic RCC
The randomized phase III Carmena trial showed that many people with advanced kidney cancer can avoid nephrectomy without compromising survival. The median overall survival for people who received the targeted therapy sunitinib (Sutent) alone was 18.4 months, compared with 13.9 months for those who...
2018 ASCO: TAILORx: Most Women With Early-Stage Breast Cancer Can Forgo Chemotherapy When Guided by a Diagnostic Test
The federally funded, phase III TAILORx clinical trial showed that most women with hormone receptor (HR)–positive, HER2-negative, axillary node–negative early-stage breast cancer and a mid-range score on a 21-tumor gene expression assay (Oncotype DX® Breast Recurrence Score) do not...
2018 ASCO: Low-Dose Maintenance Chemotherapy in Rhabdomyosarcoma
A new chemotherapy strategy seems to improve cure rates for children with rhabdomyosarcoma who are at high risk for cancer recurrence. In a randomized phase III clinical trial, adding 6 months of low-dose maintenance chemotherapy after initial treatment increased the 5-year overall survival rate...
2018 ASCO: Phase III SANDPIPER Trial Evaluates Taselisib Plus Fulvestrant in Advanced Breast Cancer
In a phase III clinical trial, the investigational PI3K inhibitor taselisib combined with standard hormone therapy fulvestrant (Faslodex) halted the growth of advanced breast cancer growth by 2 months longer than hormone therapy alone. In addition, the novel combination decreased the chance of...
2018 ASCO: Blood Test Shows Potential as a Detection Tool for Early-Stage Lung Cancer
An initial report from the large, ongoing Circulating Cell-Free Genome Atlas (CCGA) study provides preliminary evidence that a blood test may be able to detect early-stage lung cancer. This is one of the first studies to explore blood tests analyzing free-floating or cell-free DNA as a tool for the ...
2018 ASCO: IMpower 131 Studies Addition of Atezolizumab to Chemotherapy in Advanced Squamous NSCLC
Initial findings from a randomized phase III clinical trial showed that patients with advanced squamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) benefit more from initial treatment with the programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1)-targeted immunotherapy atezolizumab (Tecentriq) and chemotherapy than...
2018 ASCO: Genomic Study Finds Lynch Syndrome Is Common Among Patients With MSI-High Tumors
A genomic study of more than 15,000 tumor samples showed that people who have tumors with high microsatellite instability (MSI-H)—a genomic marker associated with a large number of genetic mutations in the tumor—are more likely to have Lynch syndrome, a hereditary condition that...
2018 ASCO: Black Men With Advanced Prostate Cancer Treated With Chemotherapy May Have Equal or Better Survival Than White Men
An analysis of pooled data from 9 randomized phase III trials of more than 8,000 men with advanced prostate cancer who received chemotherapy shows chances of survival are as good for black men as white men. The median survival was the same in black men and white men overall (21 months), but black...
2018 ASCO: Abiraterone May Be More Effective in Black Men With Advanced Prostate Cancer Than in White Men
In a prospective clinical trial of 100 men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, the response to the hormone treatment abiraterone (Yonsa, Zytiga) was greater and longer-lasting in black men than in white men. Black men were more likely to have a decline in prostate-specific antigen ...
2018 ASCO: Gender Disparities in Head and Neck Cancer Treatment and Outcomes
An analysis of cancer registry data from a California hospital system showed that women with head and neck cancer were less likely to receive intensive chemotherapy (35% vs 46%) and radiation (60% vs 70%) compared to men. Controlling for factors such as age and serious medical conditions, a...
2018 ASCO: Geriatric Assessment Improves Communication Between Oncologists and Older Patients
A federally funded randomized study demonstrated that the use of geriatric assessment in routine care of older adults with advanced cancer significantly improved doctor-patient communication about age-related concerns as well as patient satisfaction with the communication. The study was featured in ...
2018 ASCO: Treatment for Colorectal Cancer in Washington State Costs Twice as Much as in Neighboring Area of Canada, Despite No Difference in Survival
An analysis of health claims data from two demographically similar regions on either side of the U.S./Canada border shows that a common treatment for advanced colorectal cancer costs twice as much in Western Washington State than in British Columbia—$12,345 vs $6,195 monthly per patient....
FDA Statement on the Signing of the Right to Try Act
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, released the following statement today: For patients with serious or immediately life-threatening diseases, the FDA remains committed to enhancing access to promising investigational medicines for those unable to access...
American Cancer Society Updates Colorectal Cancer Screening Guideline
An updated American Cancer Society guideline now says colorectal cancer screening should begin at age 45 for people at average risk, based in part on data showing rates of colorectal cancer are increasing in young and middle-aged populations. The updated recommendations were published by Wolf et al ...
FDA Accepts Larotrectinib New Drug Application and Grants Priority Review
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted a new drug application (NDA) and granted Priority Review for larotrectinib in the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors harboring a neurotrophic receptor tyrosine kinase (NTRK) gene fusion. ...
FDA Grants Priority Review to Gilteritinib for the Treatment of Relapsed or Refractory FLT3 Mutation–Positive AML
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted, with Priority Review, a new drug application (NDA) for gilteritinib for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and a mutation in the FLT3 gene, as detected by an FDA-approved test....
FDA Grants Orphan Drug Designation to Galinpepimut-S for Treatment of Multiple Myeloma
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently granted Orphan Drug designation to galinpepimut-S for the treatment of multiple myeloma. The drug is licensed from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and targets the Wilms tumor 1 (WT1) protein, which is present in an array of tumor...
Conquer Cancer 2018 Awards Presented at ASCO Annual Meeting
The Conquer Cancer Foundation of the ASCO recently announced the recipients of its 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting Merit Awards, Medical Student Rotations for Underrepresented Populations (MSR), Resident Travel Awards for Underrepresented Populations (RTA), and Long-term International Fellowship (LIFe)....
Former Chair of ASCO’s Health Disparities Committee, Karen M. Winkfield, MD, PhD, Faced Her Own Barriers
Nationally regarded radiation oncologist Karen M. Winkfield, MD, PhD, was born and reared in Wheatley Heights, a suburban hamlet on Long Island, New York, that shares borders with the prosperous community of Dix Hills and one of the Island’s lowest-income towns, Wyandanch. “I was fortunate to live ...
Noted Oncologist Narayanankutty Warrier, MD, Battles Tobacco Use and Builds a Cancer Center in India
India, with the world’s second-largest population and more than 2,000 ethnic groups, is a vastly complex nation, noted for its rich history and boundless intellectual capital, but also for its poverty and inequities in areas such as access to health care. The State of Kerala, situated in the...
ASCO, ABIM Collaborate on Pathway to Maintenance of Board Certification
ASCO and the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) have announced that they are working to co-create a pathway to provide doctors with a flexible way to maintain board certification. The work with ASCO reflects real progress in ABIM’s efforts to collaborate with medical societies. Beginning in ...
Valued Mentors and a Link Between Science and Medicine Paved the Road to Oncology for Alice Tsang Shaw, MD, PhD
Lung cancer expert Alice Tsang Shaw, MD, PhD, was born and reared in Gaithersburg, a small suburb located to the northwest of Washington, DC. Both her parents were chemists, and during high school, Dr. Shaw had a keen interest in science, particularly biology, yet the thought of pursuing a career...
NIH Completes In-Depth Genomic Analysis of 33 Cancer Types
Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have completed a detailed genomic analysis, known as the PanCancer Atlas, on a data set of molecular and clinical information from over 10,000 tumors representing 33 types of cancer, according to a release issued by the NIH late last...
A Love of Science Leads to an Esteemed Career in Cancer Research for Razelle Kurzrock, MD
Razelle Kurzrock, MD, regarded internationally for her work in translational science, was born and reared in Toronto, Canada. “My parents were immigrants from Eastern Europe. My father, who was Jewish, was a Holocaust survivor. My parents put a strong emphasis on education,” she said. ‘The...
FDA Oncology Drug Approvals Granted Between June 2017 and May 16, 2018
Over the past year (June 2017–May 2018), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval to a number of new oncology drug products, including several biosimilar products. Here we provide the labeling approved for these novel drugs and new indications. EPOETIN ALFA-EPBX (RETACRIT)...
A Love of Older Patients With Cancer Drives a Career Path for Arti Hurria, MD, FASCO
Arti Hurria, MD, FASCO, who is Director of City of Hope’s Center for Cancer and Aging, is a first generation of immigrant parents from India. “My parents left India and moved from England to Canarsie, Brooklyn, where I was born. When I was 8, my family moved to Southern California, partly due to...
Husband and Wife Leave a Giant Legacy in Oncology
The remarkable careers of Jimmie C. Holland, MD, and James F. Holland, MD, spanned collectively for more than a century, leaving an indelible footprint in oncology clinical care and research. Synonymous with cancer care itself, the Hollands were a living documentary of the rich and dramatic history ...
International Oncologist Nagi S. El Saghir, MD, FACP, Returned Home to Make a Difference in Lebanon and Worldwide
Internationally renowned expert on the early detection, prevention, and treatment of younger women with breast cancer, Nagi S. El Saghir, MD, FACP, FASCO, was born on January 5, 1953, in Bint Jbeil, a village in southern Lebanon. His parents moved to Beirut in 1948, at the height of the...
Pioneering Researcher and Oncologist Volker S. Diehl, MD, Helped Unlock the ‘Black Box’ of Hodgkin Lymphoma
Volker S. Diehl, MD, the internationally renowned hematologist and researcher, was born in Berlin, Germany, on February 28, 1938—arguably one of the most tumultuous periods in world history. Germany had just invaded Austria, signaling the dark intentions of the Third Reich. In 1943, the air raids...
AUA 2018: Apalutamide Significantly Reduced Risk of PSA Progression in Patients With Nonmetastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer
A post-hoc analysis from the phase III SPARTAN study that showed treatment with apalutamide (Erleada) significantly reduced the risk of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) progression in patients with nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) who had a rapidly rising PSA while receiving ...
AUA 2018: Use of MRI for Prostate Cancer Screening and Management
Use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the diagnosis of prostate cancer is increasing and brings added value to screening and surveillance, according to new studies presented this year during the 113th Annual Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA). Four studies highlighting the...
Risk-Prediction Tool Helps Tailor Lung Cancer Screening to Patient Preference and Clinical Benefit
A microsimulation model study found that the benefits of low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening for lung cancer varied substantially across the eligible population, with 3 factors being particularly influential: lung cancer risk, competing risks or life expectancy, and patient...
ASCO Launches Its Education Scholars Program
Education is such an integral part of ASCO’s strategic plan to reduce the burden of cancer for all patients, it is incorporated into the Society’s mission statement to “conquer cancer through research, education, and promotion of the highest patient care.” In 2017, ASCO’s Board of Directors voted...
ACS and MRA Fund Research on Adverse Effects of Immunotherapy
THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY (ACS) and the Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA) recently selected a group of scientists to receive newly established research grants to investigate the adverse effects associated with checkpoint inhibitor cancer treatments. The grants are funded by MRA and ACS under a...
American Cancer Society Awards New Research and Training Grants
THE AMERICAN CANCER Society has approved funding for 110 grants totaling $47,624,000 to researchers and health professionals across 72 institutions nationwide in the first of 2 grant cycles for 2018. Of these grants, 101 are new and 9 are renewals of previous grants. Two individuals have been...
Stage IV Lung Cancer Did Not Stop Me From Climbing Mera Peak
A veteran mountain climber and skier, I’ve been healthy for most of my 61 years, so it was especially shocking to experience a bout of shortness of breath during a moderately intense mountain bike ride with my wife, Jan, in the spring of 2014. A never-smoker, I was used to climbing up high mountain ...
Study Finds Mutated Tau May Be a Susceptibility Factor for Cancer
Tau proteins perform the function of stabilizing microtubules, a major element of the eukaryotic cytoskeleton. Traditionally associated with neurodegeneration, tau also has a role in the maintenance of genome stability and chromosome integrity and is tightly linked to the development of cancer. A...
Characteristics of Long-Term Survivors of Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma
In a report from the diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) registries of the International and European Societies for Pediatric Oncology, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hoffman et al identified characteristics of long-term survivors among pediatric and young adult...
Trametinib Treatment for Histiocytic Sarcoma With an Activating MAP2K1 Mutation
In a letter to the editor in The New England Journal of Medicine, Gounder et al described the successful treatment of a patient with histiocytic sarcoma and an activating MAP2K1 (MEK1) mutation with the MAPK kinase 1 and 2 inhibitor trametinib (Mekinist). As noted by the authors, patients with...
High–Nicotine-Dependent Smokers Less Likely to Quit After Lung Cancer Screening
A new study by Rojewski et al in CHEST investigated the relationships between the degree of nicotine dependence and both the likelihood of successfully quitting smoking and clinical outcomes in a cohort of screened patients. The study found that patients with a higher nicotine dependence...
FDA Identifies Efficacy Issue in Clinical Trials of Pembrolizumab or Atezolizumab as Monotherapy in Urothelial Cancer With Low Expression of PD-L1
On May 18, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) alerted health-care professionals, oncology clinical investigators, and the public about decreased survival associated with the use of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) or atezolizumab (Tecentriq) as monotherapy in clinical trials to treat patients with ...
Visible Ink Celebrates 10 Years of Live Patient Performances
On April 16, 2018, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) in New York hosted the annual Visible Ink live performances at The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College. The evening marked the 10th anniversary of the ongoing one-on-one writing program for patients undergoing cancer treatment at MSK....
