Josep Tabernero, MD, PhD, of the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology, discusses phase III findings of the KEYNOTE-062 study showing that, for some patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer, pembrolizumab may improve survival and may be an effective alternative to...
Edward B. Garon, MD, of the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, discusses long-term survival data on patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer treated with pembrolizumab and those with PD-L1 expressed in at least half of their tumor cells (Abstract...
There is a high, unmet need for effective treatments for patients with recurrent, metastatic, or persistent cervical cancer—most patients are young, and survival rates are poor. Adoptive cell transfer using tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) has demonstrated durable responses in some...
The randomized, phase III KEYNOTE-062 trial achieved its primary endpoint, showing that for patients with programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1)-positive, HER2-negative, advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer, initial therapy with pembrolizumab resulted in noninferior overall...
The international, randomized phase III MONALEESA-7 trial found that the addition of ribociclib to standard-of-care endocrine therapy significantly improved overall survival for premenopausal women with advanced hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer compared with endocrine...
Five-year data from the phase Ib KEYNOTE-001 trial showed that treatment with pembrolizumab was safe and effective and substantially increased overall survival in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Specifically, 23.2% of people who had not previously been treated with...
Lee S. Schwartzberg, MD, of the West Cancer Center, reports on this past year’s progress of the ACCC initiative to speed adoption of immunotherapeutics in community practices.
Results from the phase III TITAN trial, presented by Chi et al at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 5006), showed that the addition of apalutamide to androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) improved radiographic progression-free and overall survival in patients with metastatic castration-sensitive...
In the European phase II VIT-091 trial, researchers examined the efficacy of the combination of vincristine and irinotecan with or without the addition of temozolomide in children and adults with relapsed or refractory rhabdomyosarcoma. Their results were presented by Defachelles et al at the 2019...
In a study presented by Wasp et al at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 6507) studying variation in end-of-life care across cancer centers in the United States, researchers found quality of care was lower at centers that served a greater concentration of minorities. However, end-of-life care...
The phase III KEYNOTE-048 trial is examining the efficacy of pembrolizumab alone, pembrolizumab/cisplatin or carboplatin/fluorouracil (5-FU), or cetuximab/cisplatin or carboplatin/5-FU as first-line therapy for recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. At the second interim...
On May 29, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the addition of overall survival data in the labeling for gilteritinib (Xospata), which is indicated for adult patients who have relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with an FLT3 mutation as detected by an FDA-approved...
Head and neck cancer specialist Cristina P. Rodriguez, MD, was born and reared in Manila, the capital and largest city in the Philippines. “I grew up on the campus of the University of the Philippines, as both my parents were professors. I am one of three girls, and there was quite a bit of stress ...
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has selected eight scientists as Lasker Clinical Research Scholars as part of a joint initiative with the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation to foster the next generation of clinical scientists. Three of these investigators are involved in oncology reasearch....
The oncology community was deeply saddened by the untimely passing of Arti Hurria, MD, FASCO, a nationally regarded expert and advocate for elderly patients with cancer. Dr. Hurria died on November 7, 2018, in a traffic accident. At the time of her tragic death, Dr. Hurria was Director of the City...
Internationally renowned breast cancer expert, Larry Norton, MD, FASCO, spent his formative years in a Long Island town that rubbed shoulders with the border of New York City. Making music was Dr. Norton’s first passion and a cheap subway ride landed him in Greenwich Village, the Holy Grail of the ...
Breast cancer specialist Julie Gralow, MD, FASCO, Director, Breast Medical Oncology, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, has a straightforward philosophy about her career: “Cancer is about living, not dying. I enjoy helping my patients with breast cancer take control of their health through leading-edge ...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued final rulings on several issues relevant to prescription drug prices and Medicaid provider payments. Prescription Drug Prices On May 16, 2019, CMS issued a final rule that modernizes and improves the Medicare Advantage and Part ...
As this special edition of The ASCO Post goes to press, more than 32,000 cancer experts from around the world have convened in Chicago to share the latest clinical cancer research impacting patient care at the 55th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Advances in...
Raja M. Flores, MD, grew up in New York’s Meatpacking District, a rough West Side neighborhood, light years before its gentrification into a hip commercial area, home to the Whitney Museum of American Art, high-end designer clothing stores and chic bars, and a stretch of the High Line (an...
ASCO and ASCO’s Conquer Cancer Foundation are proud to recognize the winners of ASCO’s Special Awards and Conquer Cancer’s Women Who Conquer Cancer Mentorship Awards and Tribute Award. The recipients of these awards have worked to transform cancer care around the world. Don’t miss the opportunity...
Internationally recognized breast cancer expert Lisa A. Carey, MD, FASCO, was born in New Jersey and moved to Montreal, where she attended an all-girls school (Miss Edgar’s and Miss Cramp’s School for Girls) until age 8. When she was 9 years old, her father’s business ventures took the family back ...
Former ASCO President Paul Bunn, Jr, MD, FASCO, was born at the New York Hospital, the second oldest hospital in New York City and the third oldest in the nation. He grew up in DeWitt, New York, an eastern suburb of Syracuse, and went through the public-school system graduating from...
Rajendra Achyut Badwe, MBBS, MS, was born and reared in the sprawling city of Mumbai, the most populous city in India. “My grandmother was a matron in an infectious disease hospital. At that time, smallpox was a serious issue, and the patient care challenges were momentous. She taught me the value...
New research published by Bagley et al in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network used a large real-world data set to demonstrate a modest but consistent survival benefit associated with adding bevacizumab to carboplatin/pemetrexed in advanced nonsquamous non–small...
Cancer drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took a median of 6.5 years to advance from the first clinical trial in adults to the first trial in children, according to a study published by Neel et al in the European Journal of Cancer. “Despite knowing that these...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology, Tilly et al found that the combination of polatuzumab vedotin, an antibody-drug conjugate targeting the CD79b component of the B-cell receptor, with immunochemotherapy showed high response rates in the phase II portion of a phase I/II study in previously...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Sharma et al, follow-up of the cohort receiving nivolumab at 1 mg/kg plus ipilimumab at 3 mg/kg the phase I/II CheckMate 032 trial showed the regimen produced high levels of activity in platinum-treated, unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Untch et al, long-term follow-up in the GeparSepto trial showed that patients with early breast cancer receiving neoadjuvant nab-paclitaxel vs solvent-based paclitaxel followed by epirubicin/cyclophosphamide had better invasive disease–free...
The Phillip A. Sharp Awards for Innovation in Collaboration, are named for Phillip A. Sharp, PhD, Nobel Laureate, and molecular biologist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in recognition of his emphasis on collaboration across research institutions and different teams. Stand Up To Cancer...
Lori J. Pierce, MD, FASCO, FASTRO, grew up in Washington, DC, and moved with her family to Philadelphia while in high school. She still considers the fast-paced DC–Philadelphia corridor her home, but her passion for a career in medicine, in part, took seed in a small town located in North...
The American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc. (ASCO®) commends the 24 practices that took their standard of care to the next level and achieved Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) Certification in the first quarter of this year. By electing to go through the certification process, these...
Internationally renowned breast cancer specialist Daniel A. Vorobiof, MD, was born in Santa Fe, Argentina, a province in the northeastern region of the country that is prone to catastrophic flooding. Asked about any early influences in his desire to pursue a career in medicine, Dr. Vorobiof...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) presented the Distinguished Public Service Award to three individuals for their work in preventing and curing all cancers through research, education, communication, collaboration, science policy and advocacy, and funding for cancer research at ...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) inaugurated Elaine R. Mardis, PhD, as President for 2019–2020 during the 2019 AACR Annual Meeting. Dr. Mardis holds the Nationwide Foundation Endowed Chair in Genomic Medicine and is Co–Executive Director of the Institute for Genomic Medicine at...
James P. Allison, PhD, is Chair of Immunology and Executive Director of the Immunotherapy Platform at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. In 2018, Dr. Allison received the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, with Tasuku Honjo, MD, PhD, for launching an effective...
Nationally regarded cancer immunologist Padmanee Sharma, MD, PhD, was born and reared in Georgetown, Guyana, on South America’s North Atlantic coast, noted for being the only South American country in which English is the official language. Her parents were descendants of indentured immigrants...
The Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (FASCO) distinction recognizes ASCO members for their extraordinary volunteer service, dedication, and commitment to ASCO. The recipients of the FASCO designation were recognized during the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting, May 31–June 4, 2019, at...
In elementary school, Laurie H. Sehn, MD, MPH, dreamed of becoming a teacher. However, as she moved through high school, her passion for science blossomed, as did her desire to have an impact on people’s lives. “I began to seriously consider medicine because it provided the dual opportunity to...
Over the past year (May 2018–May 2019), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval and accelerated approval to a number of new oncology drugs and biosimilars. Here we list the new FDA-approved labels and indications. AVELUMAB (BAVENCIO) and AXITINIB (INLYTA) has been approved as a ...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved lenalidomide (Revlimid) in combination with a rituximab product for previously treated follicular and marginal zone lymphoma. AUGMENT and MAGNIFY Trials Approval was based on two clinical trials: AUGMENT and MAGNIFY. In AUGMENT, 358...
Results from a study published early by Boehmer et al in Cancer point to the need for improved access to medical care for sexual minority cancer survivors—in particular, sexual minority women. In women who are sexual minority cancer survivors, poor access to care is more strongly related to...
On May 24, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved alpelisib (Piqray) tablets to be used in combination with the FDA-approved endocrine therapy fulvestrant to treat postmenopausal women, and men, with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2...
As reported by Ehrhardt et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, high doses of anthracyclines were associated with increased breast cancer risk in female childhood cancer survivors in the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort Study, with the association being independent of mutations in cancer risk...
On May 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the NovoTTF-100L System in combination with pemetrexed plus platinum-based chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of unresectable locally advanced or metastatic malignant pleural mesothelioma. NovoTTF-100L is a noninvasive,...
On May 24, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ruxolitinib (Jakafi) for steroid-refractory acute graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) in adult and pediatric patients 12 years and older. REACH1/Study INCB 18424-271 Approval was based on the REACH1 trial/Study INCB 18424-271, an...
Among the success stories in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in children and young adults is the development of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. The field of cellular immunotherapy was still in its infancy in 2012 when Emily Whitehead, then 7, became the first...
In a phase II trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Rachna T. Shroff, MD, and colleagues found that the addition of nab-paclitaxel to standard gemcitabine and cisplatin resulted in promising outcomes in patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic biliary tract cancers. The study included...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Rita S. Mehta, MD, and colleagues, the final overall survival results of the phase III SWOG S0226 trial show that the addition of first-line fulvestrant to anastrozole was associated with improved overall survival in postmenopausal women with...
AVERAGE-RISK women between the ages of 50 and 74 who have no symptoms of breast cancer should undergo breast cancer screening with mammography every other year, the American College of Physicians (ACP) has recommended in a new evidence-based guidance statement published by Qaseem et al in Annals of ...