As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Massimo Cristofanilli, MD, of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University, and colleagues, the final results of the phase III PALOMA-3 trial showed that the addition of the CDK4/CDK6 inhibitor palbociclib (Ibrance) to fulvestrant...
Immunotherapy marches on! One of the latest frontiers for checkpoint inhibitors is the treatment of Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare but aggressive type of cancer. First-line therapy with pembrolizumab (Keytruda)—an anti–PD-1 (programmed cell death protein 1) inhibitor—achieved an objective response...
It is more and more common for people to wait until their 30s or 40s to have children. Consequently, many young adults have not completed their desired childbearing when they are diagnosed with cancer. Cancer treatments can impair fertility directly (usually via gonadotoxicity from chemotherapy,...
As reported by Joanne F. Kelvin, MSN, RN, CNS, AOCN, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), and colleagues in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, a cancer and fertility program established at MSK improved patient satisfaction with information received regarding fertility risks and...
The Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) has announced that Richard J. O’Reilly, MD, has been named the inaugural recipient of The Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Prize. Founded in 1946, The Society of MSK is a volunteer-led organization within MSK dedicated to promoting the ...
Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), has received the Ovarcome Excellence 2016 Award in recognition of her accomplishments in the field of cancer research, and her commitment to increasing public awareness about cancer...
Low-grade gliomas account for 15% of all primary brain tumors and represent a heterogeneous group of glial neoplasms. Although these tumors have been termed low-grade, this is a misnomer, especially for some grade II gliomas, which may exhibit a more aggressive behavior and variable natural...
Oophorectomy was the first proposed form of endocrine therapy for women with breast cancer. Over 100 years ago, Thomas Nunn reported a relationship between menopause and regression of breast cancer.1 This incited interest in the induction of menopause as an anticancer therapy, and in 1986, a...
Final results of the RTOG 9802 phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Jan C. Buckner, MD, of Mayo Clinic, Rochester, and colleagues, showed that the addition of chemotherapy with procarbazine, lomustine, and vincristine to radiotherapy significantly prolonged overall...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Harold J. Burstein, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and colleagues, ASCO has released a clinical practice guideline update on ovarian suppression as part of the extant guideline on adjuvant endocrine therapy in hormone...
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.On May 18, 2016, the PD-L1 (programmed cell death ligand 1)...
On June 2, 2016, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Robert Califf, MD, issued the following statement on the release of the final individual patient expanded access form. “Today, the FDA finalized its efforts to streamline the process used by physicians to request expanded...
Compared with a historic control rate, a phase II study of the programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor atezolizumab (Tecentriq) has demonstrated clinically meaningful responses in patients with urothelial carcinoma who progressed after platinum-based chemotherapy.1 Hailed as a “major...
Seattle Children’s announced that 39 of 42 patients treated in a phase I clinical trial using genetically reprogrammed T cells to treat relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have achieved complete remission, showing no detectable leukemia cells. Phase II of this trial, known as...
Guest Editor Physiatry in Oncology explores the benefits of cancer rehabilitation in oncology practice to screen survivors for physical and cognitive impairments along the care continuum to minimize survivors’ disability and maximize their quality of life. The column is guest edited by Sean Smith, ...
A new U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) study suggests that African American men and men with a higher tumor stage may benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy following radical prostatectomy.1 According to prespecified analysis of these two “high–risk” subgroups, patients with ≥ T3b disease had a ...
In 2012–2013, members of the President’s Cancer Panel (prescancerpanel.cancer.gov) focused their efforts on accelerating widespread acceptance of and use of approved human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines to prevent cancer. The topic is important, because HPVs cause most cases of cervical cancer and...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) congratulates Saverio Candido, PhD, on receiving the fourth Margaret Foti Scholar-in-Training Award from the University of Catania in Italy. Dr. Candido is being recognized for his research on biomarkers of bladder cancer development and...
Breast surgeon Deanna Attai, MD, is a virtual mighty mouse as a spokesperson for her professional organization, the American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS). She is as big on ideas as she is petite in stature and for actively tweeting on medical topics (@DrAttai). Assistant Clinical Professor...
A large prospective Swedish study reported by Larsson et al found a 2.2-fold increased risk of gallbladder cancer in people who consumed two or more servings of sweetened beverages a day compared with nonconsumers. The researchers also found a 1.8-fold increase in extrahepatic biliary tract cancer...
Vice President Joe Biden offered remarks on the White House’s National Cancer Moonshot Initiative on Monday, June 6, to attendees at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago. Essential Elements “The Moonshot Initiative can be a vehicle for major new progress against cancer, and ASCO’s Annual...
Value framework tools made a splash in 2015, with five different groups unveiling methods to help physicians and patients compare therapies based on efficacy, toxicity, and/or cost. Now these potential users are beginning to examine and debate the tools, including how and whether they will work in...
An adjuvant chemotherapy regimen improved overall survival in early-stage pancreatic cancer patients, in the large phase III European ESPAC-4 study reported at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 The combination of gemcitabine and capecitabine almost doubled the 5-year survival rate, compared to...
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has announced the hiring of Steve Stadum as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Stadum, currently the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Knight Cancer Institute, will join Fred Hutchinson as ...
The incidence of new cases of breast cancer in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, is rising, and it will take a concerted effort from the international cancer community to counteract this troubling upward trend. It has been estimated that of the 15 million cancer ...
According to a new survey of more than 1,500 consumers and nearly 600 physicians conducted for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), only 35% of Americans indicated that they were “likely” to enroll in a clinical trial. Clinical research is increasingly dependent upon larger numbers of...
“There is a tremendous interest in longer aromatase inhibitor therapy. The Oxford Overview data, presented at ASCO, show the substantial risk of recurrence in years 5 to 15, despite an initial 5 years of adjuvant endocrine treatment. “Women with lower-risk breast cancer will be less inclined to...
Five years of aromatase inhibitor as upfront therapy or after tamoxifen is the current standard of care for postmenopausal women with early hormone receptor–positive breast cancer. A new trial suggests that extending aromatase inhibitor therapy with letrozole for an additional 5 years may improve...
It can be easy to miss the forest for the trees in the interpretation of clinical trials. In particular, trials for the treatment of cancer are exceedingly complex, with long lists of inclusion and exclusion criteria, designs with hidden biases, drugs with unpronounceable names (if not cumbersome...
On June 27, 2016, Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP, FASCO, will begin his tenure as Chief Executive Officer of ASCO, succeeding Allen S. Lichter, MD, FASCO, who presided over the Society and the Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO since 2006. Dr. Hudis’ dedication to ASCO dates back more than 25 years...
As reported in The Lancet by Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, of Yale School of Medicine, and colleagues,1 the phase II/III KEYNOTE-010 trial showed that pembrolizumab (Keytruda) significantly improved overall survival vs docetaxel in patients with previously treated programmed cell death ligand 1...
For relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, daratumumab (Darzalex), combined with bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone, reduced relapses by 61% in the phase III CASTOR study reported at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 “The results are unprecedented in a randomized study comparing a novel...
Treating head and neck cancer patients with recurrent or metastatic disease with the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) achieved significant clinical responses in nearly one-fifth of the patients from a phase II clinical trial, researchers from Dana-Farber...
During the 2016 Annual Meeting, ASCO announced the creation of the Allen S. Lichter Visionary Leader Award to recognize ASCO members who have transformed the oncology field or significantly advanced the mission of ASCO, the Conquer Cancer Foundation, or CancerLinQ, LLC, through their leadership,...
Duke Cancer Institute researchers have found that a hypothetical leukemia patient buying the life-extending drug therapy for his condition would reach his annual out-of-pocket maximum in a month on most of the bronze policies and half of the silver policies offered through the Affordable Care Act...
Crump et al found no disease-free survival benefit of maintenance therapy with the selective protein kinase Cb (PKCb) inhibitor enzastaurin in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) who were in complete remission and at high risk of relapse after first-line chemotherapy, according to a ...
Costs associated with different breast cancer chemotherapy regimens can vary significantly, regardless of effectiveness, according to new research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Understanding cost differences should help guide informed discussions between patients and...
Skin cancer screenings performed by primary care physicians during routine office visits improve the detection of potentially deadly melanomas and find them in earlier stages, according to new research from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The results were presented by Ferris et al...
Treatment with nivolumab (Opdivo) doubled overall survival and improved quality of life, with fewer side effects, in a treatment-resistant and rapidly progressing form of head and neck carcinoma, reported a large, randomized international trial co-led by investigators at the University of...
ASCO announced that a total of 58 practices in 39 states and the District of Columbia have joined CancerLinQ, ASCO’s big data initiative to rapidly improve the quality of care for people with cancer. CancerLinQ is already up and running in a number of practices and drawing on approximately...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Wolmark et al, higher 21-gene recurrence score (RS) was strongly predictive of late disease recurrence among patients with high quantitative estrogen-receptor expression (ESR1) receiving tamoxifen for 5 years in two NRG Oncology/NSABP (National...
Adding the vascular-disrupting agent fosbretabulin to bevacizumab (Avastin) improved outcomes in patients with recurrent ovarian, tubal, or peritoneal carcinoma, according to a randomized phase II NRG Oncology/Gynecologic Oncology Group study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Monk et...
A pilot study revealed large differences in median retail prices for 23 cancer drugs in 7 different countries, with the highest retail prices identified in the United States and the lowest, in India and South Africa. Notably, after the monthly drug price is expressed as a percentage of domestic...
For breast cancer survivors who carry mutations in BRCA genes, preventive surgery may substantially reduce the risk of future breast and ovarian cancers. However, it appears that black women are far less likely to receive these widely recommended procedures than white or Hispanic...
An analysis of health claims data from 2007–2014 on more than 28,000 patients under the age of 65 found that a large proportion of patients with advanced solid tumors received at least one form of aggressive care within the last 30 days of life. The study was presented by Chen et al at...
A Web-mediated follow-up application (app; Moovcare™) improved advanced lung cancer survival, according to a French multicenter randomized phase III study. Researchers analyzed the association and evolution of self-reported clinical symptoms over time. The median overall survival of patients...
The anti–programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) immunotherapy atezolizumab (Tecentriq) is effective in patients with previously untreated advanced bladder cancer who are not eligible for the standard treatment with cisplatin. According to a nonrandomized phase II trial, atezolizumab shrank...
Historically, less than 50% of children with high-risk neuroblastoma live 5 or more years after diagnosis. A National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded phase III trial performed by the Children’s Oncology Group found that adding a second autologous stem-cell transplant to standard therapy...
Early findings from a first-in-human clinical trial showed that the antibody-drug conjugate rovalpituzumab tesirine (Rova-T) shows promising efficacy against recurrent small cell lung cancer (SCLC). The treatment, which combines a novel anti-DLL3 antibody with a powerful anticancer agent, halted...
A Canadian-led randomized phase III trial found that adding temozolomide chemotherapy during short-course radiation therapy, followed by monthly maintenance doses of temozolomide, significantly improved survival of elderly patients with glioblastoma, reducing the risk of death by 33%. These data...