In the August 25, 2017, issue of The ASCO Post, in the Patient's Corner column “On My Way to Hospice Care, Immunotherapy Saved My Life” (page 52), the combination regimen cited is not correct. Instead, the report should have noted only that the patient was participating in a phase I clinical trial...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently granted approval to olaparib tablets (Lynparza) as a maintenance therapy for ovarian cancer and to inotuzumab ozogamicin (Besponsa), for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)....
The ASCO Post salutes the men and women of MD Anderson Cancer Center for their heroic actions and resilience during Hurricane Harvey. “Ride-out” teams of health-care professionals stayed at the cancer center throughout the days-long catastrophic weather event to maintain a safe and caring...
Novel targeted treatment strategies and new trial endpoints in recurrent, platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer were highlighted in a gynecologic cancer session at the Best of ASCO New Orleans. At the meeting, Karen McLean, MD, PhD, of the University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, presented...
The updated results of the PIVOT1 study—reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Wilt et al and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post—did not show a statistically significant difference between treatment and observation for the initial management approach to men with newly diagnosed...
New hematology research, presented at the Best of ASCO New Orleans meeting, may help to guide the use of stem cell transplant in hematologic malignancies. At the meeting, Guillermo Garcia-Manero, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, and Tycel Phillips, MD, of the...
On September 1, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared the first 2D digital mammography system that allows patients to increase or decrease the amount of compression applied to their own breast before the mammogram x-ray is taken. “Regular mammograms are an important tool in...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved gemtuzumab ozogamicin (Mylotarg) for the treatment of adults with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) whose tumors express the CD33 antigen. The drug was also approved for the treatment of patients aged 2 years and older with...
Researchers have demonstrated that women with a history of preeclampsia have as much as a 90% decrease in breast cancer risk if they carry a specific common gene variant. Further studies are now underway to determine the mechanism of this protection in an effort to develop new breast cancer...
On August 31, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research Director Janet Woodcock, MD, issued the following statement: “Clinical trials play a critically important role in bringing to market innovative new therapies for patients facing life-threatening...
In the aftermath of the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey throughout the state of Texas, which has resulted in more than 30,000 people being displaced from their homes, ASCO has published a list of resources and information for oncology providers and patients with cancer affected by the...
Men with localized prostate cancer who received androgen-deprivation therapy were at significantly higher risk of heart failure than men who did not receive this therapy, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published by Haque et al in the British Journal of Cancer. In the past,...
New technology being developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo and the Sunnybrook Research Institute is using artificial intelligence (AI) to help detect melanoma at earlier stages. The technology employs machine-learning software to analyze images of skin lesions and provide...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued what it has called a “historic action,” making the first gene therapy available in the United States. The FDA approved tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah) for certain pediatric and young adult patients with a form of acute lymphoblastic...
On August 29, Daiichi Sankyo announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to DS-8201, an investigational HER2-targeting antibody-drug conjugate, for the treatment of patients with HER2-positive, locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer...
On August 28, AVEO Oncology announced that the European Commission (EC) has approved tivozanib (Fotivda) for the treatment of adult patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma in the European Union plus Norway and Iceland. Tivozanib is indicated for the first-line treatment of adult patients with...
On August 24, positive topline results were announced from the phase III ALCYONE study of daratumumab (Darzalex) in combination with bortezomib (Velcade), melphalan, and prednisone (VMP) vs VMP alone as front-line treatment for newly diagnosed patients who are not considered candidates for...
On August 28, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted the supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) and granted Priority Review for obinutuzumab (Gazyva) in combination with chemotherapy followed by obinutuzumab alone for patients with previously untreated follicular lymphoma....
The Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance (PSSCRA) will begin accepting applications for its 2018 Pershing Square Sohn Prize for Young Investigators on October 2, 2017. At least six New York City area–based scientists will each be awarded $200,000 per year—for up...
On August 28, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved fulvestrant (Faslodex) at 500 mg as monotherapy for expanded use in women with hormone receptor–positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)–negative advanced breast cancer who have gone through menopause...
The rate of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in the United States is increasing, but remains lower than ideal. A new study suggests that survivors of childhood cancer receive the HPV vaccine at an even lower rate than their peers without cancer—24% vs 40%, respectively. Nearly...
A new population-based study shows that palliative care substantially decreased health-care utilization among Medicare beneficiaries with advanced cancer, resulting in less intensive care being delivered at the end of life. This included lower rates of hospitalization, fewer invasive procedures,...
Female patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer treated with chemotherapy and radiation therapy before surgery are more likely to have a favorable response to the treatment than male patients are, and women are less likely to experience cancer recurrence, according to a study published by...
Researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found a relationship between the genetics of tumors with germline BRCA1/2 mutations—and whether the tumor retains the normal copy of the BRCA1/2 gene—and risk for primary resistance to a common...
As reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice by Chang et al, for the first time for any type of malignancy, the American Urological Association (AUA), ASCO, American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), and Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO) have formulated an evidence-based guideline on...
Over the past 30 years, squamous cell carcinoma of the anus has been one of the few cancers with a steadily rising incidence in the United States, with the most rapid increase seen in black men. To further investigate this trend, researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center...
On August 21, Clinical Genomics announced they have implemented QIAGEN’s PAXgene circulating cell-free DNA tube blood sample collection in its Colvera colorectal cancer recurrence assay. Colvera, an integrated liquid biopsy solution, is designed to enable easy and accurate...
IN A SINGLE-ARM multicenter trial reported by Bardia and colleagues1 and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, the use of sacituzumab govitecan (IMMU-132) showed a response rate of 30% and a clinical benefit rate of 46% in heavily pretreated patients with metastatic triple-negative breast...
Vitamin C may “tell” faulty stem cells in the bone marrow to mature and die normally, instead of multiplying to cause blood cancers. This is the finding of a study led by researchers from Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Health, and published by Cimmino et al in Cell....
When to initiate screening for breast cancer, how often to screen, and how long to screen are questions that continue to spark emotional debates. A new study compares the number of deaths that might be prevented as a result of three of the most widely discussed recommendations for screening...
THE WISTAR INSTITUTE has announced the appointment of scientist, medical oncologist, and National Academy of Medicine member Chi Van Dang, MD, PhD, as Professor. Dr. Dang, the Scientific Director of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in New York, shapes scientific strategy at Ludwig, as...
RECENTLY ANNOUNCED DATA from the phase III FLAURA trial showed a statistically significant and clinically meaningful progression-free survival benefit with osimertinib (Tagrisso) compared to current first-line standard-of-care treatment (erlotinib [Tarceva] or gefitinib [Iressa]) in previously...
UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS (UH) has announced the appointment of Theodoros N. Teknos, MD, as the new President and Scientific Officer of UH Seidman Cancer Center, effective October 1. He will take over from current UH Seidman President Nathan Levitan, MD, who has been in the position since 2008 and...
THE NONPROFIT Reagan-Udall Foundation for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released a new online resource called the Expanded Access Navigator. The website, which focuses on oncology, features the first pharmaceutical company directory of expanded access policies and criteria, as...
ASCO’S BOOKLET Managing Your Weight After a Cancer Diagnosis: A Guide for Patients and Families addresses how being obese or overweight can slow recovery and affect survival. Readers will find information on different weight loss methods, common challenges to losing weight and maintaining weight...
ASCO RECENTLY issued a position statement on rising cancer drug prices. The statement, asserting that solutions to address the affordability of cancer drugs must also preserve patients’ access to care and foster innovation, analyzes a wide array of options and recommends that a panel of...
LEADING NATIONAL cancer organizations have released a joint position statement1 to guide the future of cancer health disparities research. The statement represents a unified strategy by ASCO, the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Cancer Society, and the National Cancer...
BY CREATING an online fundraising campaign page at WeConquerCancer.org, anyone can make a difference in raising awareness and providing support for vitally important cancer research and education. A campaign might: Honor a special person whose life has been touched by cancer; Celebrate a special ...
The Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO (CCF) presented more than $6.3 million in grants and awards to 247 promising oncology researchers at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting. CCF and ASCO congratulate the recipients on their contributions to the field of oncology and offer their profound thanks to the...
Next-generation sequencing of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) identified distinct genomic profiles with potentially targetable alterations in 99.7% of patients with carcinoma of unknown primary (CUP) who have detectable alterations, according to results published by Kato et al in Cancer Research....
In a bid to detect cancers early and in a noninvasive way, scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, Baltimore, reported they have developed a test that spots tiny amounts of cancer-specific DNA in blood, and have used it to accurately identify more than half of 138 people with...
In a phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Tzannou et al found that use of off-the-shelf, broad-coverage, adoptively transferred, virus-specific T cells was feasible and effective in treating viral infections in patients who had undergone allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell...
CARLOS L. ARTEAGA, MD, has been named Director of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center and Associate Dean of Oncology Programs at The UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Roles and Research at Vanderbilt DR. ARTEAGA IS CURRENTLY Director of the Center for Cancer Targeted...
ON JULY 1, Patricia Ganz, MD, assumed editorial leadership of JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute. As Editor-in-Chief, she is also responsible for JNCI Monographs. Dr. Ganz is Director of Cancer Prevention & Control Research at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)’s...
BRACHYTHERAPY HAS a long track record in treating cancer, dating back to the first reported use of an implanted radioactive source in 1901, and brachytherapy for the treatment of prostate cancer dates back to 1914, when Pasteu and Degrais used a radium source inserted through a urethral catheter. ...
AS REPORTED by Joseph Chin, MD, of London Health Sciences Centre, London, Ontario, and colleagues in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, ASCO and Clinical Care Ontario (CCO) have issued a joint update to the prior CCO guideline on use of brachytherapy in patients with prostate cancer.1,2 The update ...
STAND UP TO CANCER (SU2C) and Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research are supporting a new translational research team to explore how chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy can be applied to pancreatic cancer. The approach uses specially modified immune cells to find and...
PRIMARY LIVER CANCER is the second leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Hepatocellular carcinoma accounts for 90% of liver cancer, with around 800,000 new cases diagnosed globally each year.1 In contrast to the stable or declining trends observed for most neoplasms, the incidence and...
AN UPDATE of the ASCO Clinical Practice Guideline covers new medicines for nausea and vomiting related to cancer treatment. The update, issued by Hesketh et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology,1 provides new evidence-based information on the appropriate use of olanzapine, neurokinin 1 (NK1)...
ALTHOUGH THE National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®) strongly influence the management of advanced prostate cancer, they do not always reflect actual clinical practice. It turns out that in the real world, there are multiple areas ...