In resectable stage III to IV melanoma, three cycles of neoadjuvant pembrolizumab followed by adjuvant pembrolizumab was significantly more beneficial than adjuvant pembrolizumab alone, based on the results of the phase II SWOG S1801 trial presented in a Presidential Symposium at the European...
For anacademic oncologist, there is no greater reward than to be part of the clinical research that turns a fatal cancer into a highly treatable disease. Saul A. Rosenberg, MD, FASCO, was one such researcher who pioneered advances in the diagnosis, treatment, and understanding of lymphoma,...
1980–1995, Villejeuf: Claud Jasmin, MD, advocates for the elimination of chronologic age from the eligibility criteria for clinical trials of cancer treatment. In 1995, Dr. Jasmin published a book entitled La Planète Blanche [The White Planet], where he foresaw challenges in a world crowded with...
With the aging of the world population, geriatric oncology is becoming a mainstay. Over the past year in The ASCO Post, we published a couple of articles on the history of oncology, including one on the history of geriatric oncology in the United States and Europe. Our goal was to promote a...
On August 5, 2022, darolutamide was approved for use in combination with docetaxel for patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer.1 Approval was based on the double-blind ARASENS trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT02799602), in which 1,305 patients were randomly assigned to...
In the more than 7 months since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, cancer care for Ukrainian citizens has changed dramatically. Ukraine was once a country able to provide its approximately 160,000 newly diagnosed patients with cancer each year with modern diagnostic methods, including...
As reported in JAMA by Cheng et al, an interim analysis of the phase III ASTRUM-005 trial has shown that the addition of the PD-1 inhibitor serplulimab to chemotherapy improved overall survival in the first-line treatment of patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Study ...
Young women who are cancer survivors may be at a much higher risk of sexual problems, including loss of libido and discomfort, according to research published by Wettergren et al in the journal Acta Oncologica. The study also suggests that cancer type and intensity of treatment may influence the...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD, and colleagues, the phase III CheckMate 915 trial showed no improvement in recurrence-free survival with adjuvant nivolumab/ipilimumab vs nivolumab in patients with resected stage IIIB–D or IV melanoma. Study Details In...
In a single-institution phase I study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Sham Mailankody, MBBS, and colleagues found that chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells targeting G protein–coupled receptor, class C, group 5, member D (GPRC5D) were active in heavily pretreated patients with...
Concurrent chemoradiation therapy followed by durvalumab has become the standard of care in patients with unresectable, locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), based on the PACIFIC trial.1 However, clinical trials have predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria, and they evaluate...
In locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), immunotherapy consolidation with the PD-L1 inhibitor durvalumab improved overall survival in the PACIFIC trial,1 thus leading to its use after chemoradiotherapy as a standard of care. Real-world evidence of durvalumab’s effect on overall and...
Discussant of the IMpower010 abstract, Benjamin Besse, MD, PhD, Professor and Head of Clinical Research at Institute Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France, said there is enough evidence to use adjuvant immunotherapy in stage II–IIIA resected non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), calling the increased...
The addition of the CTLA-4 inhibitor tremelimumab to durvalumab and chemotherapy in the first-line setting has already demonstrated an overall survival and progression-free survival benefit vs chemotherapy alone in patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). According to data...
Patients with rare desmoid tumors may finally have an effective treatment. A first-in-class gamma secretase inhibitor, nirogacestat, led to an improvement in progression-free survival in the phase III DeFi trial. The results were presented during the Presidential Symposium at the European Society...
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruling in Dobbs v Jackson overruled Roe v Wade, returning an individual’s right to access abortion services to state law. New findings led by researchers at the American Cancer Society published by Jiang et al in The Lancet Oncology showed that more...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Li et al identified elements of increasing financial burden associated with the use of high-cost targeted oral anticancer drugs among Medicare patients between 2011 and 2016. The study used data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by DiSilvestro et al, the 7-year follow-up of the phase III SOLO1/GOG 3004 trial showed a reduction in risk of death by almost half with maintenance olaparib vs placebo in newly diagnosed patients with advanced ovarian cancer and a BRCA1/2 mutation,...
In a study (ABCD; Alleviating Breathlessness in Cancer Patients with Dexamethasone) reported in The Lancet Oncology, David Hui, MD, MS, MSc, and colleagues found that high-dose dexamethasone did not improve dyspnea compared with placebo in patients with cancer and was associated with greater...
State-run Medicaid insurance, expanded in 2014 as part of the Affordable Care Act, has resulted in decreased metastatic cancer incidence rates as well as decreased overall cancer mortality rates, and has averted over 1,000 deaths due to cancer per year. About 12% of the improvements in cancer...
A cancer navigation program can reduce overall costs when deployed in collaboration with a statewide Medicare Advantage health plan across a wide range of practice types, according to findings to be presented by Worland et al at the upcoming 2022 ASCO Quality Care Symposium (Abstract 4). A...
Substituting biosimilars, generics, and clinically appropriate lower-cost drugs for established, costlier drugs was shown to be an effective way to reduce the total cost of care, by 5% or so, while maintaining the quality of care for patients with cancer. Even small shifts toward lower-cost drugs...
In this installment of the Living a Full Life series, Guest Editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with Stanton (“Stan”) L. Gerson, MD, Dean and Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs, School of Medicine, and Acting Director of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center and National Center for...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Frederick L. Locke, MD, of the Department of Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Immunotherapy, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida, and colleagues, the phase III ZUMA-7 trial in large B-cell lymphoma has shown improved event-free...
The addition of the CTLA-4 inhibitor tremelimumab to durvalumab and chemotherapy in the first-line setting has already demonstrated an overall survival and progression-free survival benefit vs chemotherapy alone in patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). According to data...
From microchips to automobiles, people in the United States are experiencing shortages of all kinds of products, and oncology treatments are no exception. In particular, shortages related to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy have been reported, most acutely, for B-cell maturation...
On August 11, 2022, fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki was granted accelerated approval for unresectable or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with tumors that have activating HER2 mutations, as detected by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved test and who have received a...
On August 10, 2022, capmatinib was granted regular approval for patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with tumors having a mutation leading to mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) exon 14 skipping, as detected by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved test.1...
Discussant of the IMpower010 abstract, Benjamin Besse, MD, PhD, Professor and Head of Clinical Research at Institute Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France, said there is enough evidence to use adjuvant immunotherapy in stage II–IIIA resected non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), calling the increased...
In a Chinese phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Zhang et al found that conditioning with busulfan plus cyclophosphamide (BuCy) was noninferior to total-body irradiation plus cyclophosphamide (TBI-Cy) in 2-year overall survival among adult patients with standard-risk...
Three-quarters of surveyed people preferred to do a fecal immunochemical test (FIT) rather than undergo a colonoscopy for their regular colorectal cancer screening, according to a new Cedars-Sinai study published by Makaroff et al in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. “One of the big issues...
Physical activity may be associated with improved outcomes for patients undergoing postoperative treatment for stage III colon cancer, according to findings from a new study out of Pennington Biomedical Research Center published by Brown et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The study assessed ...
New, long-term use of opioids after lung cancer surgery was linked to a 40% increased risk of death from any cause within the following 2 years, according to findings published by Oh et al in the journal Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine. Persistent postoperative pain has been reported in up...
In a phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Janos L. Tanyi, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that use of pafolacianine infusion for intraoperative imaging improved the detection of lesions in patients with folate receptor–positive ovarian cancer, compared with using white light...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by O’Brien et al, the second interim analysis of the phase III PEARLS/KEYNOTE-091 trial has shown significantly improved disease-free survival with adjuvant pembrolizumab vs placebo in patients with completely resected stage IB to IIIA non-small cell lung cancer...
New data show that the immuno-oncology drug atezolizumab may be a safe and effective treatment for patients with stage IB to IIIB non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) prior to surgery, according to a study led by researchers with The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center–Arthur G. James...
As reported in The Lancet by Livingstone et al, the final analysis of the German phase II IMMUNED trial showed significantly improved recurrence-free survival with adjuvant nivolumab/ipilimumab and nivolumab alone vs placebo in patients with resected stage IV melanoma who had no evidence of disease ...
In a circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) substudy from the CALGB/SWOG-80405/Alliance trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kanwal Raghav, MD, MBBS, and colleagues found that first-line use of the anti-EGFR antibody cetuximab combined with chemotherapy was associated with only a small number ...
Researchers at The Marvin and Concetta Greenberg Pancreatic Cancer Institute at Fox Chase Cancer Center have found that a new synthetic lethal agent could be an effective treatment for pancreatic cancers with DNA damage repair (DDR) defects. Igor Astsaturov, MD, PhD, a co-director of the Institute...
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have found that risk factors historically linked to cancer mortality vary regionally across the lower 48 United States—such that they believe those differences should be considered in developing tailored public-health interventions. Dong et al...
The ASCO Nominating Committee has selected 11 distinguished members as candidates for open leadership positions within the Society. Voting members are urged to vote in the election beginning November 2, 2022. Voting will close on December 6, 2022. President-Elect (4-year term) Robin Zon, MD, FACP, ...
Certain genetic variants found in prostate tumors of men of African descent were associated with African ancestry, according to two studies presented at the 15th American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial and Ethnic Minorities...
Concurrent chemoradiation followed by durvalumab has become the standard of care in patients with unresectable, locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), based on the PACIFIC trial.1 But clinical trials have predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria, and they evaluate selective...
In a National Cancer Database (NCDB) analysis reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Bazan et al found that Hispanic ethnicity was reported in patient demographics or results in less than half of studies in breast cancer, with a smaller proportion categorizing race and ethnicity into...
In a phase II trial (SECOMBIT) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Paolo A. Ascierto, MD, and colleagues found that sequential immunotherapy and targeted therapy with ipilimumab/nivolumab followed at disease progression by encorafenib/binimetinib was associated with good survival...
In an international, multicenter phase II clinical trial, 63.3% of patients with stage II to IV cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma saw their tumors nearly or completely eradicated when treated with the anti–PD-1 agent cemiplimab-rwlc before surgery. The results were presented by Gross et al at the...
Physicians, care providers, and payers may be preparing for a major shift in early cancer detection that will affect almost every stage of cancer diagnosis and treatment. New data supporting the accuracy of multicancer early detection blood testing, presented by Deb Schrag, MD, FASCO, MPH, at the...
Patients with high-risk melanoma who received the anti–PD-1 therapy pembrolizumab both before and after surgery to remove cancerous tissue had a significantly lower risk of their cancer recurring than similar patients who received the drug only after surgery. These results from a study by the SWOG...
The numbers are dizzying. The costs of cancer care in the United States are rising so fast that by 2030, it is projected the national cancer-attributable costs will total more than $246 billion, up from $183 billion in 2015—a 34% increase.1 And although the total global economic burden of cancer is ...
The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) recently announced that Ochsner Cancer Institute in New Orleans is a recipient of a 2022 ACCC Innovator Award. The award recognizes Ochsner Cancer Institute’s Chemotherapy Care Companion program—a digital technology system that allows the cancer...