In the scramble to bring successful apps for the diagnosis of skin cancer to market, there is a concern that a lack of testing is risking public safety, according to research led by the University of Birmingham. The research, outlined at the British Association of Dermatologists Annual...
In a study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Yang et al found that most patients who had undergone surgery for cancer reported that hospital reputation would have been important to them in choosing a hospital for surgery and that they would have used a listing of best hospitals for...
Studies show that triple-negative breast cancer is associated with advanced-stage disease and higher-grade tumors at the time of diagnosis, and carries an increased risk of recurrence and poorer 5-year survival rates relative to other breast cancers. This type of breast cancer accounts for...
In a large-scale retrospective analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Wang et al found that male sex is a predictor of poorer disease-specific survival in BRAF V600E papillary thyroid cancer. The study involved 2,638 patients (male = 623, female = 2,015) from 11 centers in 6...
A NEW “frailty index” may predict overall survival for patients newly diagnosed with multiple myeloma, according to a study published in JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics.1 Frailty is a critical factor in treatment decision-making for many patients with multiple myeloma, as many of these patients are ...
THE ASSESSMENT of cognitive dysfunction in patients who have undergone chemotherapy is complex, and although a number of strategies are available, each has its limitations, according to Karin Olson, RN, PhD, Professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. At...
COMMENTING ON the results of this trial of GC4419, Rajesh V. Lalla, DDS, PhD, President of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, said, “This study demonstrated this agent’s strong potential for the management of oral mucositis in patients receiving head and neck radiation...
GC4419, A SMALL molecule superoxide dismutase mimetic, reduced the duration, incidence, and severity of chemoradiotherapy-induced mucositis in patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer, with a safety profile comparable to that of placebo. This finding comes from a randomized phase IIb...
FOR THE TREATMENT of lymphoma, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are becoming an important class of drugs, as described at the 2018 Pan Pacific Lymphoma Conference by Brad Kahl, MD, Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis.1 “We have one ADC—brentuximab vedotin...
THE EMERGENCE of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has sparked a wave of optimism in hematologic malignancies, but as experience in using CAR T-cell therapy has grown, new challenges have surfaced. A pioneer in the field, David G. Maloney, MD, PhD, enlightened attendees on these issues ...
BEFORE TOO LONG, oncologists can expect to have an entirely new arsenal in the fight against multiple myeloma. Cutting-edge therapies on the near horizon were described in a presentation by Kenneth Anderson, MD, at the 2018 American Association of Cancer Research’s (AACR’s) inaugural conference on...
BREAST SURGEON Rebecca C. Yang, MD, has joined Atlantic Breast Associates at Overlook Medical Center and Carol G. Simon Cancer Center, part of Atlantic Health System Cancer Care, in New Jersey. Dr. Yang is a board-certified general surgeon and fellowship-trained breast surgeon. She joins Atlantic...
THE US ONCOLOGY Network recently announced the appointment of Marcus Neubauer, MD, as Chief Medical Officer, building on its mission of delivering a comprehensive approach to cancer care. Michael Seiden, MD, PhD, will continue to lead The US Oncology Network as its President. Dr. Neubauer has...
WHAT IS THE best choice of treatment for a man with newly diagnosed metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer after treatment with androgen-deprivation therapy—abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) plus prednisone, or enzalutamide (Xtandi)? Both drugs achieve similar cancer control in this setting,...
ROBERT PETER GALE, MD, PhD, DSc (hc), was on the faculty of the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine for 20 years and has served as Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research. In 1986, he was asked by the...
ON MAY 30, 2018, President Donald J. Trump signed into law the Trickett Wendler, Frank Mongiello, Jordan McLinn, and Matthew Bellina Right to Try Act of 2017.1 This law creates an additional and alternative pathway for patients with a “life-threatening disease or condition” to access...
AS REPORTED in The New England Journal of Medicine by Maha Hussain, MD, of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University, and colleagues, the phase III PROSPER trial has shown a 71% reduction in the risk of metastasis or death with enzalutamide (Xtandi) vs placebo in men ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to quizartinib, an investigational FLT3 inhibitor, for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed/refractory FLT3-ITD acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Breakthrough Therapy designation is designed to...
Adult survivors of childhood cancer should be screened for financial problems that might cause them to delay or skip medical care or to suffer psychological distress. The recommendation from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital researchers followed an analysis that found 65% of...
The careHPV Test, a molecular diagnostic for high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) designed to screen women in low-resource settings, has been added to the World Health Organization (WHO) list of prequalified in vitro diagnostics (IVDs). HPV is the primary cause of cervical cancer, so ...
In an interim analysis of the French phase III noninferiority Carmena trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Méjean et al found that sunitinib alone was not inferior in overall survival vs nephrectomy followed by sunitinib in patients with intermediate- or poor-risk...
In an analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Grossberg et al found that a single nucleotide polymorphism (C−509T) in the transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1) gene was associated with higher risk of radiation-induced fibrosis in women with early breast cancer. Study Details The...
Research published by Jung et al in OncoImmunology showed organ transplant recipients may reduce their risk of developing secondary skin cancer by changing their immunosuppressant medication. University of Queensland (UQ) researchers have studied the impact of such medications on the immune...
Results were recently announced from the ASTRAL-1 study evaluating the efficacy and safety of guadecitabine in adults with previously untreated acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who are not eligible for intensive induction chemotherapy. The study did not meet its co-primary endpoints: complete...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation for lenvatinib (Lenvima) in combination with pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the potential treatment of patients with advanced and/or metastatic non–microsatellite instability high (MSI-H)/proficient...
In an article in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Miller et al reported final results of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group phase III E5103 trial, initiated in 2007, which showed no benefit of adding bevacizumab (Avastin) to adjuvant therapy in patients with HER2-negative, node-positive or...
In an analysis of Asian trials reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Yeoh et al found evidence that treatment intensification improved outcomes in childhood B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) with IKZF1 deletion (del). The analysis compared outcomes in the Malaysia-Singapore ALL...
On July 20, 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved ivosidenib (Tibsovo) for adult patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with a susceptible IDH1 mutation as detected by an FDA-approved test. Approval was based on an open-label, single-arm, multicenter...
Gini Fleming, MD, had a peripatetic path to her destination as a gynecologic and breast cancer expert. As a child, she moved around a lot, living in about 10 or 12 different places, so she had no real sense of being born and reared in any particular place. “My parents married young, when my father ...
GUEST EDITOR Dr. Abraham is the Director of the Breast Oncology Program at Taussig Cancer Institute, and Professor of Medicine, Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic. For this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, interviewed Mace L. Rothenberg, MD,...
In a Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) meeting devoted to real-world evidence, members of the cancer community generally agreed that its use has an increasingly important role to play in gathering the data necessary to test, evaluate, and bring new therapeutic agents to market. This Friends...
Early in 2018, abemaciclib (Verzenio) in combination with an aromatase inhibitor was approved as initial endocrine-based therapy for postmenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings in ...
The American Cancer Society (ACS) is outlining its vision for cancer control in the decades ahead in a series of articles that began publishing in early July in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. The series of articles forms the basis of a national cancer control plan, with a blueprint toward the ...
According to a report by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, cancer is among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, with an estimated incidence of 14 million new cases of the disease and 8.2 million cancer deaths in 2012. A study analyzing breast and female lung...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug designation to SRF231 for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma. SRF231 is a fully human antibody that inhibits the activity of CD47, a protein overexpressed on many types of cancer cells, which prevents them from being...
Two phase III studies—KX-AK-003 and KX-AK-004—achieved their primary endpoint of 100% clearance of actinic keratosis lesions at day 57 within the face or scalp treatment areas, with each study achieving statistical significance (P < .0001). Statistical significance (P < .001) ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Treon et al found that ibrutinib monotherapy was highly active in patients with previously untreated Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia, with better response in patients without CXCR4 mutation. Ibrutinib has been shown to be active in ...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Scragg et al found that monthly high-dose vitamin D supplementation, without calcium, was not associated with a reduced risk of developing cancer. Study Details The current analysis is a post hoc analysis of the Vitamin D Assessment (ViDA) study, which...
Physicists from The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust combined standard two-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images of the chests of healthy volunteers to create 'super-resolution' videos, showing the lungs expanding and contracting. The...
The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has adopted a positive opinion recommending approval of dabrafenib (Tafinlar) in combination with trametinib (Mekinist) for the adjuvant treatment of adult patients with stage III melanoma...
The phase III KEYNOTE-048 trial, which is investigating pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for first-line treatment of recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), met a primary endpoint of overall survival (OS) as monotherapy in patients whose tumors expressed programmed cell death ...
In a prospective cohort study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Merritt et al found evidence that recent use of aspirin or nonaspirin nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) after diagnosis appears to improve ovarian cancer–specific survival. Study Details The study involved...
The PLATO trial failed to show benefit of adding abiraterone (Zytiga)/prednisone to ongoing enzalutamide (Xtandi) vs abiraterone/prednisone in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer exhibiting rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) during enzalutamide treatment. Results of the...
On World Lung Cancer Day (August 1), the members of the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS) commemorate, celebrate, and support those impacted by lung cancer. FIRS continues to support the grassroots efforts of the lung cancer community to raise awareness about lung cancer and its...
The European Commission (EC) has approved Trazimera, a biosimilar to trastuzumab (Herceptin), for the treatment of human epidermal growth factor (HER2)–overexpressing breast cancer and HER2-overexpressing metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma. This approval...
A new frailty index may aid in predicting overall survival for patients newly diagnosed with multiple myeloma, according to a study published by Mian et al in JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics. This tool is important because frailty is a critical factor in treatment decision-making for ...
The global, randomized, phase III ALTA-1L (ALK in Lung Cancer Trial of AP26113 in 1st Line) trial met its primary endpoint at the first prespecified interim analysis, with brigatinib (Alunbrig) demonstrating a statistically significant improvement in progression-free...
In a Swedish study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Weibull et al found that childbearing potential in young women treated for Hodgkin lymphoma in more recent years is similar to that in the general population. Study Details The study included 449 women aged 18 to 40 years identified ...
In a pivotal phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lancet et al found that cytarabine and daunorubicin liposome (CPX-351, Vyxeos) significantly improved overall survival vs standard cytarabine plus daunorubicin (7+3 regimen) in older patients with newly diagnosed secondary...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved lusutrombopag (Mulpleta) for thrombocytopenia in adults with chronic liver disease who are scheduled to undergo a medical or dental procedure. L-PLUS 1 and L-PLUS 2 Approval was based on two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled...