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Showing 12101 - 12150Best First-line Treatment for Advanced Colorectal Cancer Remains Unclear
In patients with advanced colorectal cancer, it remains unclear which biologic agent added to standard chemotherapy is best, even after a head-to-head comparison of two commonly used agents. In the phase III FIRE-3 trial, conducted by the German AIO CRC Study Group, the addition of cetuximab...
Expert Point of View: Prolaris
Scott Tomlins, MD, PhD, a pathologist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, was cautiously optimistic about this new test. “Whenever you introduce a new biomarker, you need to demonstrate its ability to impact clinical decision-making, and it needs to improve on what we currently have,” he...
Expert Point of View: Oncotype DX
“Prostate cancer is a heterogeneous disease and has not yet benefitted from personalized medicine discoveries. Anything that gets us closer to personalized medicine [for prostate cancer] is a plus,” said Michael J. Morris, MD, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New...
Two New Genetic Tests Offer Progress in Personalized Medicine for Newly Diagnosed Prostate Cancer
At least 12 different genetic tests for prostate cancer are under development. The two tests currently available are Oncotype DX (Genomic Health, Redwood City, California) and Prolaris (Myriad Genetic Laboratories, Salt Lake City). Both tests can identify which low-risk patients are “truly” at low...
Expert Point of View: Priya Rastogi, MD
Priya Rastogi, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, discussed the findings at the session. She noted that previous studies have also shown higher pathologic complete response rates among HER2-enriched patients who were hormone receptor–negative, and...
Benefit for Dual HER2 Targeting in Neoadjuvant Breast Cancer Regimen Restricted to Subset of Patients
As a neoadjuvant regimen for HER2-positive early breast cancer, the use of two HER2-directed agents was no more effective than trastuzumab (Herceptin) alone in producing pathologic complete responses, although one subset of patients did benefit from this approach, according to the results of the...
Expert Point of View: Stephen R.D. Johnston, MA, MD, PhD
The results of the next-generation sequencing analysis of the BOLERO-2 samples showed that specific activating PIK3CA mutations are not in themselves predictive of clinical benefit from mTOR inhibitors, possibly because there are other ways to activate mTOR independently of PI3K. “It is probably...
ASCO Will Change with the Times
At the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting, The ASCO Post caught up with new President Clifford A. Hudis, MD, Chief of the Breast Cancer Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, for a glimpse of his plans for ASCO in the coming year, and his thoughts on being elected ASCO...
Expert Point of View: Kanti R. Rai, MD
“These three excellent, encouraging, tantalizing studies show that we really are making progress in the treatment of chronic CLL, whereas 10 to 12 years ago, we had no real progress to report,” stated Kanti R. Rai, MD, Chief, CLL Research Program, North Shore-LIJ Medical Center, New Hyde Park, NY. ...
Idelalisib, Obinutuzumab Show Encouraging Results in CLL Studies
A trio of presentations at the ASCO Annual Meeting focused on two promising investigational drugs for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). These two drugs—idelalisib and obinutuzumab—join a list of new approaches showing potential. Idelalisib Alone A phase I dose-ranging study of...
First Positive Trial of Heat Shock Protein 90 Inhibitor in Lung Cancer That Has Progressed after First-line Therapy
The investigational heat shock protein (Hsp)90 inhibitor ganetespib plus docetaxel extended overall survival compared with docetaxel alone as second-line therapy in patients with advanced non–small cell adenocarcinoma of the lung that had progressed on first-line therapy in the randomized phase II...
Expert Point of View: Christine M. Lovly, MD, PhD
“The definition of molecular subsets of lung cancer [in terms of] driver mutations has revolutionized the care of patients with non–small cell lung cancer [NSCLC],” said formal discussant Christine M. Lovly, MD, PhD, Instructor in Medicine at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville. ALK...
Second-generation ALK Inhibitor Breakthrough Drug Promising in Early Study for Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
Encouraging results were seen in a preliminary study of a second-generation ALK inhibitor in advanced ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The drug—dubbed LDK378—achieved tumor shrinkage in almost all patients enrolled in the study, in all mutational subsets, in crizotinib...
Despite a Recurrence, I'm Not Surrendering My Life to Cancer
This is the first time I’m going public with the fact that I have advanced ovarian cancer. I thought I could avoid the fate of my mother and her mother, both of whom died of ovarian cancer in their 50s, and live well past my 60s and even 70s. But at 58, I’ve had to accept that that is not likely. I ...
Supreme Court Rules Human Genes May Not Be Patented
On June 13, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that isolated human genes may not be patented. However, the creation of synthetic forms of DNA, known as complementary DNA (cDNA), is eligible for patent protection. The decision resolves the question brought before the Supreme Court justices in...
Expert Point of View: Howard A. Fine, MD and Albert Lai, MD, PhD
Howard A. Fine, MD, Chief of Hematology/Oncology at New York University Langone Medical Center and Director of the NYU Brain Tumor Center, served as formal discussant of the RTOG 0825 study at the Plenary Session. He noted the strong rationale for studying bevacizumab in glioblastoma, which is a...
Studies Explore Role of Bevacizumab in Combination Therapies for Glioblastoma
At the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting, studies evaluating the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to standard therapy in newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme patients did not meet their primary endpoints. When paired with irinotecan, however, bevacizumab showed activity in MGMT-unmethylated tumors....
Most Patients Receiving Radiotherapy for Incurable Lung Cancer Do Not Realize It Is Unlikely to Cure Them
Surveying a population-based and health system–based cohort of patients receiving radiation therapy for incurable lung cancer (defined as stage IV or stage IIIB with malignant effusion at diagnosis) revealed that “64% did not understand that [radiotherapy] was not at all likely to cure them.” These ...
Encourage Questions about Late Effects of Treatment
Melissa Hudson, MD, of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, and lead author of a study finding that 98.2% of adult survivors of childhood cancer had a chronic health condition, told The ASCO Post that she hoped that survivors’ awareness of the need for ongoing health monitoring was...
More Than 98% of Childhood Cancer Survivors Have Chronic Health Conditions
More than 98% of adult survivors of childhood cancer in a large clinically evaluated cohort had a chronic health condition, including a substantial number of previously undiagnosed problems that are more likely to occur in an older population. “These findings underscore the importance of ongoing...
I Have No Fear
I found out that I had stage III pancreatic cancer on Valentine’s Day in 2011, but I think the disease may have been brewing for a long time. For 19 years, I had experienced intermittent pain in the right upper quadrant of my abdomen. I had gallbladder surgery to relieve a bile duct obstruction,...
‘Medicalizing’ Physician-assisted Suicide
It was with regret that I read the article and commentary on physician-assisted suicide in the June 10 issue of The ASCO Post (“Death with Dignity Program at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance,” by Matthew Stenger, and “One Cancer Center’s Approach to Death with Dignity,” by Frederick R. Appelbaum, MD)....
Clinical Trials for Patients in Africa
Thank you very much for The ASCO Post Evening News,* which ensures I don’t miss anything that happened at the ASCO 2013 meeting. Due to financial constraints I could not attend the ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago. My comment is that pharmaceutical companies should extend their oncology drug trials...
Conversations with Breast Cancer Patients
I am a retired oncologist, previously an attending physician at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, with a professional lifetime experience in caring for patients with all stages of breast cancer, and now I am a regular reader of The ASCO Post. In recent months there have been several articles...
Co-discoverer of DNA Double Helix, James Watson, PhD, Offers a New Theory on Cancer Progression
Despite his fame as co-discoverer—along with Francis Crick, PhD—of the double-helix structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in 1953, that accomplishment is not what James Dewey Watson, PhD, came to talk about during a recent presentation he gave at the World Science Festival in New York. Instead,...
Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers and St. Anthony Hospital Complete Affiliation for a Comprehensive Oncology Center
Colorado’s Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers, with 20 centers throughout the state, and St. Anthony Hospital have completed an agreement to provide comprehensive inpatient and outpatient cancer services to patients on the St. Anthony Hospital campus in Lakewood, Colorado. Expanded radiation therapy...
Management of Anaplastic Oligodendroglial Tumors
Pearls in Neuro-oncology is guest edited by Tracy Batchelor, MD, Director, Division of Neuro-Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, and Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston. The series is intended to provide the practicing oncologist with guidance in managing...
New Guidelines Issued in the Treatment of Multiple Myeloma-Related Bone Disease
The International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG) has developed clinical practice recommendations for the management of multiple myeloma-related bone disease based on published study data through August 2012. Consensus of the interdisciplinary panel of clinical experts on the plasma-cell cancer was...
Barriers to Successful Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
The Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research is a combined research program of the National Marrow Donor Program and the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. At the forefront of research to increase access to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and improve outcomes, the ...
Denosumab in Adults and Skeletally Mature Adolescents with Giant Cell Tumor of Bone
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. Indication On June 13, 2013, denosumab (Xgeva) was approved for the ...
ACCC Institutes Network to Provide Assistance in Treating Uncommon Cancers
Among the more than 200 types of cancer are those called “forgotten” or “orphan” cancers, with fewer than 40,000 new cases each year. They present treatment challenges in community cancer centers. Because of the low incidence of these diseases, such as chronic myeloid leukemia, acute promyelocytic...
FDA Announces Decisions on New Tobacco Products
For the first time since the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 gave the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products, the agency has authorized the marketing of two new tobacco products and denied the marketing of four others through the substantial equivalence pathway....
Looking for Drivers in the Rearview Mirror
The latest clinical trial looking at combining vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibition in metastatic colorectal cancer adds little to our overall understanding of the mechanisms for optimizing selection of patients to receive such therapies....
New Research Presented in Breast, Gastric, Esophageal Cancers, Melanoma, and Multiple Myeloma, plus Supportive Care
Attendees at the ASCO Annual Meeting are faced with a major challenge of trying to attend as many important sessions as they can over a 4-day period. Our challenge is to feature the major news in The ASCO Post. In addition to our regular comprehensive coverage of key presentations, the following...
ASCO Urges Administration to Provide Clear Affordable Care Act Guidance on Protecting Patient Access to Clinical Trials
ASCO has joined more than 50 other organizations in urging the Administration to issue regulations or guidance before January 2014 to ensure health plans implement an important provision of the Affordable Care Act that would remove a critical obstacle to patients interested in participating in...
ASCO Targets Health Disparities, Need for Research in Achieving Health Equity
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC), and the Heart Failure Society of America (HSFA) recently held a Capitol Hill Briefing to draw attention to health disparities among minority and underserved patients and opportunities to achieve health...
Young Investigator Awards and Career Development Awards Build a Pipeline of Cancer Researchers
Behind the scenes, researchers are working to unlock the secrets of cancer in its many forms—researchers who are well acquainted with the human cost of this disease and who see the vast scientific and clinical opportunities for conquering it. Some are well established in their careers and have been ...
ASCO Completes Electronic Data Sharing Standard for Breast Cancer Treatment
ASCO has completed the first phase in developing several sets of interoperability standards for cancer care data and overcoming the widespread inconsistencies that currently limit secure sharing of information between providers, patients, and researchers. The first standard, the Breast Cancer...
Lenalidomide in Relapsed/Progressed Mantle Cell Lymphoma after Two Prior Therapies Including Bortezomib
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. Indication On June 5, 2013, lenalidomide (Revlimid) was approved...
Examining the Role Genetics Plays in Breast Cancer Onset
Internationally known for her research in the molecular genetics of cancer, Olufunmilayo I. Olopade, MD, FACP, first became interested in oncology during medical school in Nigeria, where she cared for patients with Burkitt’s lymphoma. After moving to Chicago in 1983 to continue her medical...
Genomic Heterogeneity Can Lead to the Selection of 'Incorrect' Targeted Inhibitors
Genomic heterogeneity within tumors and among lesions varies widely, and “discordance among lesions could lead to the selection of the ‘incorrect’ targeted inhibitor,” according to David B. Solit, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, who spoke at the ASCO/American Association for Cancer...
Roche Files for Cervical Cancer Primary Screening Indication for cobas HPV Test
Roche recently announced it has submitted a Premarket Approval (PMA) supplement to the FDA seeking the addition of a cervical cancer primary screening indication for the cobas HPV Test. Approval of the expanded indication would mean the cobas HPV Test could be used as the first-line test rather...
New Drug Application Submitted for Ibrutinib in the Treatment of Two B-cell Malignancies
Pharmacyclics, Inc, recently announced that it has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the investigational oral Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor ibrutinib, for two relapsed/refractory B-cell malignancy indications: mantle cell lymphoma (MCL)...
Expert Point of View: Carsten Bokemeyer, MD
Carsten Bokemeyer, MD, Professor of Internal Medicine at the University Medical Center Hamburg, Germany, formally discussed the paper by Fizazi et al at the ASCO Annual Meeting. “This is a positive trial. The progression-free survival, the primary endpoint, showed a 10% improvement, though,...
Dose-dense Chemotherapy Improves Outcomes in Poor-prognosis Germ Cell Tumors
For poor-prognosis patients with germ-cell tumors, dose intensification of chemotherapy based on slow decline of tumor markers can increase progression-free survival, according to the first randomized trial of a “personalized” treatment strategy for this tumor.1 At the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting,...
Expert Point of View: Anthony V. D'Amico, MD, PhD
“No one likes to give long-term hormonal therapy. I am optimistic that we can give shorter-term androgen deprivation therapy, but I am not sure I can state that with certainty today,” said Anthony V. D’Amico, MD, PhD, Professor of Radiation Oncology at Harvard Medical School and Chief of...
Expert Point of View: Michael A. Carducci, MD
With the high rate of [prostate-specific antigen (PSA)] decline, the study of enzalutamide (Xtandi) reported by Dr. Smith and colleagues appears to be a positive study,” said formal discussant Michael A. Carducci, MD, AEGON Professor in Prostate Cancer Research at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive ...
Enzalutamide Monotherapy Highly Active in Patients with Prostate Cancer Who Have Had No Prior Hormone Therapy
Enzalutamide (Xtandi) monotherapy induced striking declines in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in a majority of patients with hormone-naive prostate cancer in a phase II trial, and this oral agent appears to have little effect on bone mineral density. If these findings are confirmed in a phase III...
Why Is Stem Cell Transplant So Underused in Follicular Lymphoma?
Follicular lymphoma is the second most common subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in the United States. Of the nearly 70,000 new cases of NHL anticipated in 2013,1 approximately 7,000 to 13,000 (10%–19%) will be follicular lymphoma, by recent estimates.2-5 For many years, the median overall...
Top Five Things Oncologists Need to Know about Cancer in Older Adults
A workforce shortage of geriatricians and other health professionals certified in caring for older patients with cancer is colliding with the aging of the population and the increasing number of older Americans with cancer. After describing factors contributing to these dual challenges, Arti...
