The Cancer Biology Research Center at Sanford Research in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is the recipient of a 5-year, nearly $11.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to translate laboratory research into clinical trials for head and neck and pediatric cancers. The grant was...
The rise in the incidence of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma in the United Kingdom from 2002 to 2011 was not solely attributable to a rise in the incidence of human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive disease, according to a study published in Cancer Research,1 which reported that the proportion of ...
Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer and tumors harboring the BRAF V600E mutation who received triple therapy with dabrafenib (Tafinlar), trametinib (Mekinist), and panitumumab (Vectibix) showed an improved best overall response and prolonged progression-free survival compared to...
Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates remain low across the United States, with fewer than 40% of girls and just over 21% of boys receiving the recommended vaccine series. Research from Roswell Park Cancer Institute has identified barriers that need to be overcome to improve vaccination...
Findings from a phase II trial of vemurafenib in previously treated patients with advanced disease and BRAF-mutated tumors indicate that the drug is effective in patients with diverse BRAF V600–mutated tumors but not in patients with BRAF non-V600 mutations. After a mean treatment...
The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network recently announced Precision Promise, the first large-scale precision medicine trial designed to transform outcomes for patients with pancreatic cancer. The organization also announced the 12 initial Precision Promise Clinical Trial Consortium sites selected to...
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, UK, have agreed to a full exchange of cancer mutation data to support the discovery and understanding of genetic mutations causing cancers. The agreement will provide regular updates and exchanges of data between both...
Ever since the landmark studies of Griffiths and colleagues in the 1970s,1 primary cytoreductive surgery followed by chemotherapy with the objective of achieving minimal residual disease has been the standard approach for women with advanced-stage epithelial ovarian cancer. However, what is...
The paper’s invited discussant was Olivier Michielin, MS, MD, PhD, Head of Personalized Analytical Oncology and the Melanoma Clinic at Lausanne University Hospital in Switzerland. He called the findings of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment (EORTC) 18071 trial a “new landmark in...
Andrés Cervantes, MD, PhD, Scientific Chair of the 2016 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress, concluded the meeting earlier this month by recognizing a number of important take-home messages. At a closing press conference, Dr. Cervantes noted that the “ESMO 2016 Congress has...
Uveal melanoma is the second most common type of skin cancer. Approximately 50% of patients with uveal melanoma will develop metastasis, most commonly to the liver. The disease can appear more than 10 years after the primary lesion has been removed, lying dormant for long periods. There are...
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) announced that Stanley M. Marks, MD, oncologist and advocate for cancer patients throughout the western Pennsylvania region, is being honored by the UPMC and his medical partners at Oncology Hematology Association (OHA) through the establishment...
University of Utah Health Care (UUHC) has named Ben Tanner, Huntsman Cancer Institute’s current Director of Clinical Operations and Chief Operating Officer (COO), as the Institute’s Executive Director, replacing Ray Lynch, who is retiring after 13 years of service. Mr. Tanner has been COO of the...
The treatment of cancer of the larynx has changed dramatically in recent years. With organ preservation now possible in many cases, it is more important than ever for patients to receive guidance from every corner of the field. In a recent article in the Journal of Oncology Practice (JOP),1 a...
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced awards to add four regional medical center groups to the national network of health-care provider organizations that will implement the Precision Medicine Initiative Cohort Program. Combined, the new health-care provider organizations will...
Diethelm Wallwiener, MD, President of the German Society for Gynaecology and Obstetrics, announced “The Big Four of the Millennium” at the 61st Congress of the Society, held recently in Stuttgart, Germany. The award recognizes individuals’ whose work in the 20th century created the standards of...
The Avon Foundation for Women recently released a new study on the racial disparities in breast cancer mortality in the 50 largest cities in the United States between 2005 and 2014. Published in Cancer Epidemiology,1 the study was conducted by Sinai Urban Health Institute in collaboration with the...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to olaratumab (Lartruvo) in combination with doxorubicin to treat adults with certain types of soft-tissue sarcoma. Olaratumab is approved for use with the FDA-approved chemotherapy drug doxorubicin for the treatment of ...
Myeloproliferative neoplasms are a group of blood cancers characterized by significant symptoms and a high risk of transformation into acute leukemia. These cancers—myelofibrosis, essential thrombocythemia, and polycythemia vera—affect approximately 13,000; 134,000; and 148,000 patients in the...
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center announced that Nancy E. Davidson, MD, Director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, has accepted the position of Executive Director of the Fred Hutchinson/University of Washington Cancer Consortium—1 of the 47 National Cancer Institute–designated ...
Yanis Boumber, MD, PhD, has joined the Department of Thoracic Medical Oncology and the Molecular Therapeutics Program at Fox Chase Cancer Center. Dr. Boumber first joined Fox Chase’s Department of Medical Oncology in 2013 and now returns to Fox Chase from the University of New Mexico Comprehensive ...
A pooled analysis from three clinical trials in advanced melanoma shows that although patients treated with nivolumab and nivolumab plus ipilimumab with ≥ 5% programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) tumor expression have similar progression-free survival, durable response rates were higher for the...
Patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma achieved prolonged overall survival when concomitant chemotherapy was administered with locoregional treatment or radiotherapy, according to findings from a large meta-analysis reported by Blanchard et al at the European Society for Medical...
In patients with advanced lung or thymus carcinoid receiving everolimus, pasireotide LAR, or the combination of the two drugs, statistically significant positive impact was seen on proportion of patients’ progression-free rate at 9 months (primary endpoint) in all three arms, more relevant in ...
On October 4, the Community Oncology Alliance (COA) released the 2016 Community Oncology Practice Impact Report, which tracks the changing landscape of cancer care in the United States. It documents a 121% increase in community cancer clinic closings and a 172% increase in consolidation into...
On October 18, 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved atezolizumab (Tecentriq) for the treatment of patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose disease progressed during or following platinum-containing chemotherapy. Patients with EGFR or ALK genomic...
In 2014, the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) and the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) published a “Consensus Guideline on Margins for Breast-Conserving Surgery With Whole-Breast Irradiation in Stages I and II Invasive Breast Cancer.”1 A multidisciplinary expert guideline used a...
On October 18, 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) modified the indication for erlotinib (Tarceva) in the treatment of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to limit its use to patients whose tumors have specific epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations. The labeling...
Martin H. Schuler, MD, of the University Hospital Essen, discusses in German findings from this phase II trial of epirubicin, oxaliplatin, and capecitabine with or without the antibody IMAB362 as first-line therapy in patients with advanced CLDN18.2+ disease. (Abstract 614O)
Katja Weisel, MD, of the University of Tübingen, discusses in German study findings on daratumumab, bortezomib, and dexamethasone vs bortezomib and dexamethasone in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. (Abstract 906O)
Martin Reck, MD, PhD, of the LungenClinic, discusses in German study findings on pembrolizumab vs platinum-based chemotherapy as first-line therapy for advanced non-small cell lung cancer with a PD-L1 tumor proportion score ≥50%. (Abstract LBA8)
The addition of the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) antibody pembrolizumab (Keytruda) to standard first-line chemotherapy for treatment-naive advanced non–small cell lung cancer significantly improves response rates and progression-free survival, Langer et al reported at the 2016...
Nivolumab (Opdivo) maintains function and reduces symptoms in treatment of relapsed metastatic head and neck cancer, according to results from the CheckMate 141 trial presented by Harrington et al at the 2016 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark (Abstract...
Judith Balmaña, MD, PhD, of Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, discusses in Spanish the findings of a single-agent phase II trial on the antitumor activity of lurbinectedin in BRCA1/2-associated metastatic breast cancer patients. (Abstract 223O)
Luis G. Paz-Ares, MD, PhD, of the Hospital Universitario 12 De Octubre, discusses in Spanish overall survival data on afatinib vs gefitinib in patients with EGFR mutation–positive non–small cell lung cancer. (Abstract LBA43)
Paolo A. Ascierto, MD, of the Istituto Nazionale Tumori–Fondazione Pascale, discusses in Italian overall survival and safety results from a phase 3 trial of ipilimumab at 3 mg/kg vs 10 mg/kg in patients with metastatic melanoma. (Abstract 1106O)
Giorgio V. Scagliotti, MD, PhD, of the University of Torino, discusses in Italian study findings on ceritinib vs chemotherapy in patients with advanced ALK-rearranged non–small cell lung cancer previously treated with chemotherapy and crizotinib.
Teresa Calimeri, MD, PhD, of San Raffaele Hospital, discusses in Italian high-dose methotrexate as a CNS prophylaxis, shown to significantly improve outcome in patients with high-risk diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. (Abstract 908O)
Today in the Oval Office, Vice President Joe Biden delivered the Cancer Moonshot report to the President and the American public. The report summarizes the work of the Cancer Moonshot Task Force since its creation in January and lays out the Vice President’s strategic plan for transforming...
Today, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) finalized a landmark new payment system for Medicare clinicians that will continue the Administration’s progress in reforming how the health-care system pays for care. The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of ...
The rates of administering chemotherapy to patients with solid cancers within a month of succumbing to their disease remain high, which calls for a paradigm shift to consider initiating palliative care at an earlier stage and formulating clear guidelines for end-of-life care, according to findings...
Lurbinectedin showed promising clinical benefit in pretreated patients with metastatic breast cancer and BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations, including patients previously treated with platinum, according to phase II trial results presented by Balmaña et al at the 2016 European Society for Medical...
Fulvestrant (Faslodex) significantly increases progression-free survival in women with hormone receptor–positive advanced breast cancer, particularly those with less aggressive lower-volume disease, Ellis et al reported at the 2016 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in ...
Nintedanib (Ofev) improves progression-free survival but not overall survival in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who are not responding to standard therapies, according to the results of the phase III LUME-colon 1 trial presented by Van Cutsem et al at the 2016 European Society of...
Immunotherapy has shown promising results in the first- and second-line treatment of metastatic bladder cancer in two phase II trials presented by Galsky et al and Balar et al at the 2016 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in Copenhagen (Abstracts LBA31_PR and LBA32_PR,...
Cabozantinib (Cabometyx, Cometriq) significantly improves progression-free survival and response rate in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma compared to sunitinib (Sutent), according to research presented by Choueiri et al at the 2016 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)...
Ceritinib (Zykadia) provides longer progression-free survival than chemotherapy in crizotinib–pretreated patients with non–small cell lung cancer harboring an ALK rearrangement, according to results of the phase III ASCEND-5 study presented by Scagliotti et al at the European Society...
The first phase III study of programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor atezolizumab (Tecentriq) in previously treated non–small cell lung cancer has seen significant improvements in survival compared to standard chemotherapy, reported Barlesi et al at the European Society for Medical...
A phase III trial of sunitinib (Sutent) has met its primary endpoint of disease-free survival for adjuvant treatment of high-risk renal cell carcinoma after nephrectomy, reported Ravaud et al at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2016 Congress in Copenhagen (Abstract LBA11_PR)....
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy with an anthracycline plus ifosfamide was associated with significant survival gains in patients with soft-tissue sarcoma of the trunk or extremities who are at high-risk of recurrence, in an interim analysis that led to the early discontinuation of a trial presented by...