In the single-center, phase II NeoCombi trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Long et al found that neoadjuvant dabrafenib plus trametinib produced promising response rates in resectable, stage IIIB/C, BRAF V600–mutant melanoma. As noted by the investigators, adjuvant dabrafenib plus...
As reported at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 500) and in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Hurvitz et al, 3-year outcomes in the phase III KRISTINE trial showed that neoadjuvant trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) plus pertuzumab was associated with increased risk of event-free survival events ...
In the phase III QuANTUM-R trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Cortes et al found that the FLT3 inhibitor quizartinib produced a modest but significant improvement in overall survival vs salvage chemotherapy in relapsed or refractory FLT3 internal tandem duplication (FLT3-ITD)-positive acute...
François-Xavier Mahon, MD, PhD, of the Université Bordeaux and Institut Bergonie, discusses results of the ENESTop study, which demonstrated the long-term durability and safety of treatment-free remission in chronic-phase CML after second-line nilotinib (Abstract 7005).
Diagnosis of pancreatic and biliary tract cancers is complex and challenging due to the lack of symptoms and/or the difficulty of direct, invasive, and imaging-based methods of diagnosis. In an effort to develop better diagnostic markers for these diseases, Kim et al analyzed the genome-wide...
Clinical and translational data from the TONIC trial, published in a research letter by Voorwerk et al in Nature Medicine, indicated that short-term doxorubicin and cisplatin may induce a more favorable tumor microenvironment and increase the likelihood of response to programmed cell death protein...
There were more than 16.9 million Americans with a history of cancer on January 1, 2019, and that number is projected to reach more than 22.1 million by 2030 based on the growth and aging of the population alone, according to estimates from Cancer Treatment and Survivorship Statistics, 2019....
Long-term follow-up of the phase I KEYNOTE-001 study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Garon et al showed that pembrolizumab monotherapy was associated with an estimated 5-year overall survival of 23.2% for treatment-naive patients and 15.5% for previously treated patients with...
In a UK national population-based study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Parry et al found virtually no difference in gastrointestinal or genitourinary toxicity associated with prostate-only (PO-IMRT) vs prostate and pelvic lymph node intensity-modulated radiation therapy (PPLN-IMRT)...
In the phase III MAIA trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Facon et al found that the addition of daratumumab to lenalidomide/dexamethasone significantly improved progression-free survival in previously untreated multiple myeloma ineligible for autologous stem cell transplantation ...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved trastuzumab-anns (Kanjinti) for all approved indications of the reference product trastuzumab (Herceptin): for the treatment of HER2-overexpressing breast cancer and HER2-overexpressing metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal...
Hope S. Rugo, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, and Peter Schmid, MD, PhD, of Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, discuss ongoing trials of immunotherapy for early triple-negative breast cancer; immunotherapy in other disease subtypes such as estrogen...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Fast Track designation for momelotinib in myelofibrosis, granted Priority Review to a biologics license application for luspatercept in myelodyslastic syndromes and beta-thalassemia, granted Orphan Drug designation for a new chemical...
In a retrospective multicenter study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Abu-Sbeih et al found that approximately one-third of patients resuming immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy after improvement in immune-mediated diarrhea and colitis experienced a recurrence of the adverse effect....
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Smith et al found that a high proportion of patients in community cancer centers did not report discussing, getting advice, or receiving desired help for cancer-related pain, fatigue, or emotional distress. The study involved surveys of...
Results from the phase III NRG Oncology clinical trial GOG 0261 comparing paclitaxel plus carboplatin to paclitaxel plus ifosfamide in women with stage I–IV recurrent carcinosarcoma of the uterus or ovary found that treatment with paclitaxel/carboplatin was not inferior to...
New research on the immunotherapy talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC)—an injectable oncolytic virus—for patients with unresectable melanoma was presented by Milhem et al at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 9524). Researchers reported the ad hoc analysis of progression-free survival...
In this episode, we discuss more news from the ASCO Annual Meeting, sharing interviews with experts on studies in pancreatic, urothelial, and cervical cancers. We’ll also tell you about a couple of new drug approvals announced this week by the FDA.
The 2006 publication of the National Cancer Institute’s report Closing the Gap: Research and Care Imperatives for Adolescents and Young Adults With Cancer highlighted the lack of improvement in cancer survival among people between the ages of 15 and 39 compared to children and older adults...
In an extended analysis of the COMBI-d and COMBI-v trials reported at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 9507) and in The New England Journal of Medicine, Robert et al found a 5-year overall survival rate of 34% with the combination of dabrafenib and trametinib in previously untreated...
In an international prospective cohort study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kraaijpoel et al found that incidental pulmonary embolism in patients with cancer is associated with substantial risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism, despite anticoagulant treatment. Study Details The...
New information about adjuvant therapy to prevent recurrence of breast cancer in women 50 years of age or younger has emerged from the Trial Assigning Individualized Options for Treatment (Rx), or TAILORx. An analysis of a prespecified secondary endpoint in this trial found that an assessment of a ...
Hope S. Rugo, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, and Peter Schmid, MD, PhD, of Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, discuss an update of the IMpassion130 interim overall survival analysis of atezolizumab plus nab-paclitaxel in previously untreated locally...
The E2810 trial was conducted to determine whether treatment with the oral drug pazopanib following surgery to remove further metastases in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma would improve their disease-free survival. Results from the study—which showed that primary endpoint of...
Results from an experimental arm of the phase II NRG-GI002 trial using veliparib, a poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor, as part of total neoadjuvant therapy (induction chemotherapy followed by chemoradiotherapy and surgery) in patients with locally advanced rectal adenocarcinoma were...
Matteo Lambertini, MD, PhD, of the University of Genova and Policlinico San Martino Hospital, and Hope S. Rugo, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, discuss findings from the SOPHIA trial on margetuximab plus chemotherapy vs trastuzumab plus chemotherapy in patients with...
Åsmund A. Fretland, MD, of Oslo University Hospital, discusses clinical trial findings on survival outcomes after laparoscopic vs open resection for colorectal liver metastases. The study he conducted with his team showed that the laparoscopic procedure did not jeopardize long-term survival...
Hani M. Babiker, MD, of the The University of Arizona, discusses an emerging treatment that inhibits the mitotic spindle and disrupts tumor cell growth. The method has been approved by the FDA to treat some cancers and data show improved progression-free and overall survival (Abstracts 2055, 8551,...
Don S. Dizon, MD, of the Lifespan Cancer Institute, and Mansoor Raza Mirza, MD, of Copenhagen University Hospital, discuss study findings that showed, compared with niraparib alone, niraparib plus bevacizumab improved progression-free survival in women with recurrent platinum-sensitive ovarian...
Justin F. Gainor, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses updated findings from the ARROW study in which BLU-667, a selective RET inhibitor, demonstrated clinical activity and tolerability in patients with advanced RET fusion–positive non–small cell lung cancer (Abstract 9008).
Joseph A. Sparano, MD, of the Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein Cancer Center, discusses how clinical risk stratification provides additional prognostic information to the 21-gene recurrence score and may be used to identify premenopausal women for more effective antiestrogen therapy...
Matteo Lambertini, MD, PhD, of the University of Genova and Policlinico San Martino Hospital, discusses data from an international cohort study on counseling women with breast cancer who have a BRCA mutation about the safety of becoming pregnant once they complete treatment (Abstract 11506).
Leonard J. Appleman, MD, PhD, of UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, discusses phase III trial findings that showed a trend toward worse survival with pazopanib in patients with metastatic kidney cancer who exhibited no evidence of disease following metastasectomy (Abstract 4502).
Christopher Sweeney, MBBS, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Ian D. Davis, MBBS, PhD, of Monash University and Eastern Health, discuss the Australian and New Zealand Urogenital and Prostate Cancer Trials Group, working globally to speed clinical research in and treatment of urogenital cancers.
Sara A. Hurvitz, MD, of the David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, discusses 3-year outcomes from the first phase III study to test a non-conventional regimen for the neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer (Abstract 500).
Luis G. Paz-Ares, MD, PhD, of Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, discusses study findings on the second-line use of lurbinectedin in patients with both resistant and sensitive small cell lung cancer (Abstract 8506).
Don S. Dizon, MD, of the Lifespan Cancer Institute, and Matthew A. Powell, MD, of Washington University School of Medicine, discuss phase III findings on paclitaxel plus carboplatin vs paclitaxel plus ifosfamide in chemotherapy-naive patients with stages I to IV, persistent or recurrent...
The poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor olaparib may benefit some men with prostate cancer, according to findings from the phase II TOPARP-B trial presented by Mateo et al at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 5005). Olaparib previously showed activity against metastatic...
Ahluwalia et al shared research results on SurVaxM at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting, reporting that combination therapy with the immunotherapy vaccine was more effective than standard therapy for nearly all patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma in a phase II trial (Abstract 2016). SurVaxM...
A new study examining Medicaid expansion and cancer screening found that the five states and District of Columbia that first adopted Medicaid expansion saw larger increases in colorectal cancer screening than states that did not expand Medicaid. The study—published by Fedewa et al in...
The phase III CLL14 trial—reported by Fischer et al at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 7502) and in The New England Journal of Medicine—found that the BCL2 inhibitor venetoclax plus the monoclonal antibody obinutuzumab prolonged progression-free survival vs obinutuzumab and...
Findings in a cohort of the phase II CheckMate 205 study, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Ramchandren et al, indicate that nivolumab monotherapy followed by nivolumab plus doxorubicin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (N-AVD) is highly active in newly diagnosed, advanced-stage classical ...
A recent, updated predictive analysis of the three World Health Organization (WHO)-defined molecular subgroups based on IDH mutation status and 1p/19q codeletion status represented in the high-risk treatment arms of a phase III trial found that both IDH-mutant subgroups may derive benefit ...
Two studies that explored types of discrimination and gender bias in health-care organizations were presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting. Discrimination Experienced by Fellows An abstract that reviewed discrimination and inclusion among hematology and oncology trainees was presented by...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Dess et al found that after adjustment for nonbiologic differences, black men with nonmetastatic prostate cancer did not appear to have higher rates of prostate cancer–specific mortality vs white men. Black patients had higher rates of other-cause...
In an analysis from the UK RAPID study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Barrington et al found that a postchemotherapy positron-emission tomography (PET) score of 5 was associated with poorer outcomes among patients with early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma. Study Details In the trial,...
On June 10, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the anti–programmed cell death protein 1 immunotherapy pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic or unresectable recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Pembrolizumab was...
On June 10, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to polatuzumab vedotin-piiq (Polivy), a CD79b-directed antibody-drug conjugate, in combination with bendamustine and a rituximab product for adult patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma...
The latest Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer finds that, for all cancer sites combined, cancer death rates continued to decline in men, women, and children in the United States from 1999 to 2016. Overall cancer incidence rates, or rates of new cancers, decreased in men from 2008...
As I write this, I think I’m making sense but am not 100% sure. My brain is a little scrambled after nearly 4 years of treatment for grade 4 glioblastoma multiforme, but I think the essence of my humor and humanity is still intact. When I experienced my first partial seizure while riding my...