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...
On June 12, Merck announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved an expanded indication for Gardasil 9—a human papillomavirus (HPV) nine-valent vaccine—for the prevention of oropharyngeal and other head and neck cancers caused by HPV types 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58....
On June 11, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a biosimilar to pegfilgrastim (Neulasta), pegfilgrastim-apgf (Nyvepria), to decrease the incidence of febrile neutropenia in patients with nonmyeloid malignancies receiving myelosuppressive anticancer drugs associated with a...
On June 10, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved nivolumab (Opdivo) for patients with unresectable advanced, recurrent, or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma after prior fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-based chemotherapy. ATTRACTION-3 Efficacy was investigated in...
On April 29, 2020, niraparib was approved for maintenance treatment of adult patients with advanced epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer who are in complete or partial response to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on...
A less-frequent, more-convenient dosing schedule for pembrolizumab (400 mg every 6 weeks) was deemed safe and effective in patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma, according to interim data from cohort B enrolled in the KEYNOTE-555 trial. These findings were presented at the 2020 Virtual...
On May 29, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved two combination regimens: ramucirumab (Cyramza) was approved in combination with erlotinib for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)...
On may 8, 2020, selpercatinib was granted accelerated approval for the following indications: Adult patients with metastatic RET fusion-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) Adult and pediatric patients ≥ 12 years of age with advanced or metastatic RET-mutant medullary thyroid cancer who...
On April 21, 2020, ibrutinib was granted an expanded indication for use in combination with rituximab for the initial treatment of adult patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL).1,2 The recommended dosage of ibrutinib in CLL/SLL is 420 mg, once daily,...
On May 8, 2020, olaparib was granted an expanded indication to include use in combination with bevacizumab for first-line maintenance treatment of adult patients with advanced epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer who are in complete or partial response to first-line...
On April 22, 2020, the antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan-hziy was granted accelerated approval for treatment of adult patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer who have received at least two prior therapies for metastatic disease.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was...
Steven A. Rosenberg, MD, PhD, FASCO, knew from the start of his medical career that if treatments for cancer were to become curative, research in new therapies would have to move away from the mainstay one-size-fits-all approach of systemic chemotherapy to an innovative, personalized strategy that ...
When oncology luminary Joyce A. O’Shaughnessy, MD, was in her early teens, her youngest sister, Teri, developed acute lymphocytic leukemia at age 5. Dr. O’Shaughnessy, the oldest of four girls, recalled that her sister’s struggle with the disease had a profound effect on her worldview. “Teri went...
Positive results from two cohorts of the Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) study provide real-world evidence to support recent clinical trial data that demonstrate a role for olaparib in the treatment of advanced prostate and pancreatic cancers with BRCA1/2-inactivating...
On May 29, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ramucirumab (Cyramza, injection, 10 mg/mL solution) in combination with erlotinib for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) exon 19...
On May 29, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved atezolizumab (Tecentriq) in combination with bevacizumab (Avastin) for the treatment of people with unresectable or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who have not received prior systemic therapy. The review of this application...
The successful treatment of malignant lymphoma has been one of the great achievements in medical oncology, but certainly more work is needed to define key biologic targets as well as molecular markers for a more accurate definition of prognosis following therapy. In day-to-day practice, unanswered...
Like many professional organizations in the public sphere, ASCO regularly confronts policy issues. Because we are a large organization, and because we represent many constituencies, we are frequently called upon to offer our advice to the federal government. Our members must sometimes wonder where...
“These data are solid, showing a 7-month improvement in overall survival in patients with stable disease or better after first-line chemotherapy. This is roughly a 50% improvement in survival, which is clinically meaningful. Also, progression-free survival was significantly increased with...
On May 26, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) and two cycles of platinum-doublet chemotherapy as first-line treatment for patients with metastatic or recurrent non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with no epidermal...
On May 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved brigatinib (Alunbrig) for adult patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) as detected by an FDA-approved test. The FDA also approved the Vysis ALK Break Apart FISH Probe Kit...
The Reagan-Udall Foundation for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in collaboration with Friends of Cancer Research recently announced the COVID-19 Evidence Accelerator, an expansive public-private partnership combining the efforts of academic, government, and private sector organizations...
A clinical trial investigating a two-drug immunotherapy combination will soon be available to patients with cancer infected with COVID-19 at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized clinical researchers at the center to conduct...
On April 17, 2020, tucatinib was approved for use in combination with trastuzumab and capecitabine for treatment of adult patients with advanced unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer. These patients included those with brain metastases and those who have received one or more prior...
On April 15, 2020, mitomycin gel was approved for the treatment of adult patients with low-grade upper tract urothelial cancer.1,2 Mitomycin gel is for pyelocalyceal use alone and not for intravenous, topical, or oral administration. Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings in the...
On April 3, 2020, luspatercept-aamt was approved in the treatment of anemia failing to respond to an erythropoiesis-stimulating agent and requiring 2 or more red blood cell (RBC) units over 8 weeks.1,2 The treatment is geared toward adult patients with very low– to intermediate-risk myelodysplastic ...
On April 10, 2020, the oral MEK inhibitor selumetinib was approved for the treatment of patients 2 years of age and older with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) who have symptomatic, inoperable plexiform neurofibromas.1,2 Selumetinib is the first therapy approved for children who have this disease....
On April 17, 2020, pemigatinib was granted accelerated approval for the treatment of adults with previously treated unresectable locally advanced or metastatic cholangiocarcinoma with a fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) fusion or other rearrangement as detected by a U.S. Food and Drug...
Thomas J. Herzog, MD, Deputy Director, University of Cincinnati Cancer Center, who presented a distillation of the PRIMA trial data along with updated results of the phase III PAOLA-1 trial of olaparib plus bevacizumab maintenance, called the data “practice-changing.” “We’ve suspected for a while...
Making sense of maintenance therapy in advanced ovarian cancer has been a tall order since the publication of impressive data for not one but three PARP inhibitors at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2019 Congress.1 The picture became a little clearer on April 29, 2020, however,...
On May 19, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved olaparib (Lynparza) for adult patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline or somatic homologous recombination repair (HRR) gene–mutated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who have had disease progression...
On May 18, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved atezolizumab (Tecentriq) for the first-line treatment of adult patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors have high programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression (PD-L1 stained ≥ 50% of tumor cells or...
Over the past few weeks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy designations for an antibody-drug conjugate in the treatment of gastric and lung cancers. The Agency has also issued Orphan Drug designations for agents being investigated in chronic myeloid...
On May 15, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to rucaparib (Rubraca) for patients with deleterious BRCA mutation (germline and/or somatic)-associated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who have been treated with androgen receptor–directed therapy...
On May 15, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ripretinib (Qinlock) for the treatment of adult patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) who have received prior treatment with three or more kinase inhibitors, including imatinib. INVICTUS Trial Efficacy was...
On May 15, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) as first-line treatment for patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors express programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) at ≥ 1%, as...
On May 14, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded the indication of pomalidomide (Pomalyst) to include treating adult patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related Kaposi sarcoma after failure of highly active antiretroviral therapy and those with Kaposi...
The COVID-19 pandemic transformed cancer care, seemingly overnight, as practices scrambled to ensure a safe environment for caregivers and patients. Although regulatory burdens have been relaxed to allow patients to continue on trial treatment and telemedicine has expanded its competency and reach, ...
On May 8, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to selpercatinib (Retevmo) for the following indications: Adult patients with metastatic RET fusion–positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) Adult and pediatric patients ≥ 12 years of age with advanced or...
On March 27, 2020, durvalumab (Imfinzi) was approved for use in combination with etoposide and either carboplatin or cisplatin as first-line treatment of patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on the findings of the open-label phase III ...
On April 8, 2020, encorafenib was approved for use in combination with cetuximab for the treatment of previously treated adult patients with metastatic colorectal cancer with a BRAF V600E mutation detected by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved test.1,2 Encorafenib is not indicated...
Patient-reported outcomes are measures used in clinical trials to capture aspects of a patient’s health condition, reported directly by the patient, without introduction of bias from third parties. They are distinct from the physical toxicities reported by clinicians1 and are collected using a...
Studies of second-generation bispecific antibodies were among the highlights of the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition. The bispecific T-cell engager blinatumomab was the first such agent to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in...
Immunotherapy is showing promise for patients with rare cancers, offering new treatment opportunities and clinical trials to those with previously limited options. At the 2020 ASCO-SITC Clinical Immuno-Oncology Symposium, presenters discussed the use of immunotherapy in three low-incidence cancers: ...
Systemic treatment of melanoma has changed rapidly since the introduction of ipilimumab in 2011. Newer therapies approved for melanoma since that time include immunotherapy, targeted therapy for mutation-bearing tumors, and injectional therapy for cutaneous or palpable lesions. ASCO has released...
Based on multiple phase III prospective trials, there is evidence that both PARP inhibitors and antiangiogenic therapies such as bevacizumab provide benefit when utilized in a maintenance strategy in the first-line treatment of advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (GOG 218, ICON7, SOLO-1, PRIMA,...
On May 8, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded the indication of olaparib (Lynparza) to include its combination with bevacizumab for first-line maintenance treatment of adult patients with advanced epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer who are in...
On May 6, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to capmatinib (Tabrecta) for adult patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors have a mutation that leads to mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) exon 14 skipping as detected by...
A team of researchers and patient advocates have addressed the challenges related to traveling after receiving radiation therapy involving Lu-177 dotatate in a study published by Kendi et al in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Due to the residual radiation activity of Lu-177 dotatate, some patients ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the investigational antiviral drug remdesivir for the treatment of suspected or laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 in adults and children hospitalized with severe disease. Severe disease is defined as low...