Two novel treatments once thought to hold promise in the treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer have not proved to be effective in phase III trials, investigators reported at the 2020 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. When combined with standard chemotherapy, a pegylated form of human...
The use of bridging therapy before treatment with axicabtagene ciloleucel was associated with worse overall survival in univariate, multivariate, and propensity score–matched analyses performed on data from the U.S. Lymphoma CAR T Consortium, investigators reported at the 2019 American Society of...
In a recent issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, Coleman et al released the results from the GOG-0213 trial, a multicenter, randomized prospective trial that compared secondary cytoreduction followed by chemotherapy with chemotherapy alone in women with platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian ...
The phase II KEYNOTE-890 trial is a small but interesting study in patients with inoperable advanced triple-negative breast cancer. After one injection of intratumoral tavokinogene telseplasmid, a plasmid encoding the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-12 (IL-12), followed by electroporation and...
In my 45 years of practicing hematology/oncology at a major urban academic medical center, I have observed a sea change in daily practice that contributes to physician burnout. Although the emotional stresses of caring for seriously ill people play a part in physician burnout, I find the daily...
The art of oncology practice is tailored to the individual patient with cancer, and with the advent of highly personalized targeted therapies, patient outcomes have improved markedly over the past several decades. Although much of oncology practice is guideline- or protocol-driven, chemotherapy...
To complement The ASCO Post’s continued comprehensive coverage of the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on novel immunotherapies for patients with different types of non-Hodgkin...
To complement The ASCO Post’s continued comprehensive coverage of the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on novel therapies for myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), including the...
Cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 (CDK4/6) inhibitors are changing the landscape of the treatment of hormone receptor (HR)-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer. Three CDK4/6 inhibitors are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration—ribociclib, palbociclib, and abemaciclib—as first- or...
Unlike ASCO’s Annual Meeting, symposia, and conferences, which highlight the current scientific advances in specific cancers and how they are improving cancer outcomes for the more than 18.1 million people worldwide diagnosed with cancer each year,1 ASCO Breakthrough: A Global Summit for Oncology...
Among men with prostate cancer who received care from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Health System, an equal-access health-care system, African American men did not have more advanced disease at the time of diagnosis or die earlier than white men, unlike trends seen in the greater...
As first-line treatment of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and a germline BRCA/PALB2 mutation, cisplatin plus gemcitabine yielded high response rates and encouraging survival, establishing this doublet as a standard approach in this subset of patients, according to Eileen M....
Patient enrollment in clinical trials as the first course of treatment after cancer diagnosis is low, despite the fact that enrollment may increase life expectancy, according to research published by Zaorsky et al in JNCCN–Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. Researchers also found ...
Over the past week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review to treatments for multiple myeloma and prostate cancer; gave Fast Track designation to a targeted gene therapy for lung cancer; granted Orphan Drug designation to a combination therapy for hepatocellular...
The trend toward delayed childbearing has meant that many women who plan to have children may be childless at the time they are diagnosed with cancer. The number of these women is likely to further increase concurrently with the increase in cancer survivors, making “the focus on fertility...
Seattle Genetics recently announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to tucatinib, in combination with trastuzumab and capecitabine, for the treatment of patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive breast...
For patients with progressing HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer previously treated with trastuzumab, pertuzumab, and ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1), no single regimen is an established standard of care. More than 50% of these patients will develop brain metastasis, and thus far, treatments...
This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review to treatments for ovarian, prostate, and lung cancer; granted Orphan Drug designation to therapies for chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia and multiple myeloma; and granted Breakthrough Device designation to platforms...
To complement The ASCO Post’s comprehensive coverage of the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on novel therapeutic regimens for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). For full details of...
To complement The ASCO Post’s comprehensive coverage of the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on novel therapeutic regimens including the monoclonal antibody daratumumab in combination ...
About 40 million adults in the United States take a statin to lower their cholesterol and reduce the risk for heart disease—but they may also be getting an added anticancer benefit, a growing body of evidence suggests. According to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific...
On December 27, 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved olaparib (Lynparza) as a maintenance treatment for adult patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline BRCA-mutated metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma as detected by an FDA-approved test whose disease has not ...
Primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma is an uncommon but distinct clinicopathologic variant of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) that typically presents with an aggressive mediastinal mass and invasion of local structures. Most patients are young, typically in their 20s and 30s, and there is a...
Dr. Smith called us on a Tuesday afternoon. “I have a patient who has an abnormal mammogram showing a large mass. I’m suspecting cancer and am referring her to you for diagnosis and treatment. She’s very anxious. I hope you can help.” We were able to get Dr. Smith’s patient in the next day for...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Reviews for treatments in extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC), non–muscle invasive bladder cancer, and BRAF V600E–mutant colorectal cancer. The Agency also recently issued multiple Breakthrough Therapy designations and ...
To complement The ASCO Post’s comprehensive coverage of the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on novel therapeutic regimens for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). For full details of these...
Updated data from the phase III ALTA-1L trial were presented by D. Ross Camidge, MD, PhD, of the University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, during the Presidential Session at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Asia Congress 2019 in Singapore.1 The trial evaluated brigatinib vs...
Few grade 3 or higher immune-related adverse events were observed in patients treated with first-line durvalumab plus platinum/etoposide for extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC), according to findings from the safety analysis of the phase III CASPIAN study presented by Özgüroğlu et al at...
Glioblastoma multiforme, colorectal cancer, and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma represent some of the most difficult-to-treat cancers and collectively cause more than 114,000 deaths each year in the United States. A trio of recently published basic research studies in these cancers have found...
Results from a systematic review and comparative meta-analysis show that despite increased mortality from cancer in people with mental illness, this population receives less cancer screening compared to the general population. These findings were published by Solmi et al in The Lancet Psychiatry....
On December 16, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved enzalutamide (Xtandi) for patients with metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer. The FDA previously approved enzalutamide for patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer. ARCHES Trial Efficacy was investigated in...
Terry P. Mamounas, MD, MPH, of Orlando Health UF Health Cancer Center, discusses 10-year results from NRG Oncology/NSABP B-42, which showed that, for postmenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer who have completed previous adjuvant therapy with an aromatase inhibitor or with...
Gerardo Antonio Umanzor Funez, MD, of Liga Contra El Cáncer, discusses phase III findings on intravenous (IV) paclitaxel and oral paclitaxel plus encequidar (a novel P-gp inhibitor), the first orally administered taxane regimen shown to be superior to the IV formulation in terms of response and...
Patients with metastatic breast cancer who received an oral formulation of paclitaxel had better response and survival and less neuropathy than patients who received intravenous paclitaxel, according to results of a phase III trial presented at by Umanzor et al at the San Antonio Breast Cancer...
Jeff P. Sharman, MD, of the Willamette Valley Cancer Institute and US Oncology Research, discusses phase III findings from the ELEVATE TN study, which showed that acalabrutinib plus obinutuzumab and acalabrutinib monotherapy improved progression-free survival in patients with treatment-naive...
Jerald P. Radich, MD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, discusses a gene-expression model that distinguishes patients with chronic myeloid leukemia who achieved a deep molecular response from those with a poor response to treatment. This work could yield new therapeutic targets that...
Despite the unprecedented improvement in clinical outcomes with the advent of immune checkpoint blockade for cancer,1,2 robust biomarkers for therapeutic success as well as novel strategies to increase their efficacy are urgently needed. In addition to exploring novel immune checkpoints and other...
Carolyn C. Meltzer, MD, neuroradiologist, nuclear physician, and leader in organized radiology, joined the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Board of Directors earlier this month at the Society’s annual meeting in Chicago. She will serve as the board liaison for science. “I am delighted ...
On December 4, 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved atezolizumab (Tecentriq) in combination with chemotherapy (nab-paclitaxel and carboplatin) for the first-line treatment of adults with metastatic nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with no EGFR or ALK genomic...
On April 19, 2019, pembrolizumab was approved for use in combination with the small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor axitinib for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings in the open-label phase III...
There is an urgent need to develop new drugs for the treatment of urothelial cancer. Chemotherapy was the only approved treatment in advanced disease for 40 years, which was associated with response rates of between 30% and 50% in the front-line setting.1-3 However, durable remissions were...
David P. Steensma, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses early study findings on H3B-8800, which decreased the need for red blood cell or platelet transfusion in 14% of patients. This splicing modulator, used in the trial to treat patients with hematologic malignancies, also showed safety, ...
The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) has named Chandra P. Belani, MD, as its new Chief Science Officer. In this position, Dr. Belani will direct, guide, and support the IASLC scientific strategy, including, but not limited to, scientific research projects,...
Combination therapy with the programmed cell death ligand 1 inhibitor atezolizumab and the vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitor bevacizumab significantly improved overall and progression-free survival in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma compared with sorafenib, according...
The trastuzumab biosimilar HLX02—manufactured in China—achieved a similar overall response rate to reference trastuzumab in women with HER2-positive recurrent or previously untreated metastatic breast cancer, according to a large, randomized phase III study. Binghe Xu, MD, PhD, of the Department of ...
On November 25, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to voxelotor (Oxbryta) for adults and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older with sickle cell disease. “[Voxelotor] is an inhibitor of deoxygenated sickle hemoglobin polymerization, which is the central...
On December 4, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved atezolizumab (Tecentriq) in combination with chemotherapy (nab-paclitaxel and carboplatin) for the first-line treatment of adults with metastatic nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with no EGFR or ALK genomic tumor...
As the Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan wrote, “The times they are a-changin’.” Heather Cheng, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, University of Washington, Associate Member, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Director, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Prostate Cancer Genetics Clinic, quoted this line in...
In the post-trastuzumab era, a number of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved targeted agents for metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer are available, but there is no preferred option for third-line treatment and beyond. At the 2019 Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium, Shanu Modi, MD,...
On November 25, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to voxelotor (Oxbryta) for adults and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older with sickle cell disease. “[Voxelotor] is an inhibitor of deoxygenated sickle hemoglobin polymerization, which is the central...