Fourteen distinguished ASCO members have been selected by the ASCO Nominating Committee as candidates for open leadership positions within the Society for the 2015 ASCO Election. Biographical information and interviews with each candidate, as well as instructions for casting a proxy ballot, will be ...
The investigators and sponsors of the phase III REVEL trial should be congratulated and probably commiserated. In this large study, reported by Garon and colleagues in The Lancet and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, 1,253 patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were...
In the phase III REVEL trial reported in Lancet, Edward B. Garon, MD, of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA/Translational Research in Oncology–US Network, Los Angeles, and colleagues found that the addition of the antiangiogenic vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR)-2...
CancerCare, a leading national nonprofit organization providing free, professional support services to anyone affected by cancer, has received a $1.5 million grant to assist people diagnosed with breast cancer. The grant will support a CancerCare program in partnership with Susan G. Komen called...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Orphan Drug Designations to aldoxorubicin in three indications: glioblastoma multiforme, small cell lung cancer, and ovarian cancer. Aldoxorubicin combines doxorubicin with a novel single-molecule linker that binds directly and specifically to...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to MabVax Therapeutics’ vaccine for the treatment of relapsed or recurrent high-risk neuroblastoma in remission or with limited residual disease after best available treatment. The bivalent vaccine is intended to elicit ...
Aron Goldhirsch, MD, was presented with the 2014 Gianni Bonadonna Breast Cancer Award and Lecture during the 2014 Breast Cancer Symposium, held recently in San Francisco. Dr. Goldhirsch is Director of the Multidisciplinary Program of Senology and Deputy Scientific Director at the European Institute ...
At the Breast Cancer Symposium, William M. Sikov, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, gave a talk on the use of pathologic complete response in the clinic and summarized the CTNeoBC findings for The ASCO Post. “The...
Women who achieve a pathologic complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy rarely have local or regional recurrence of breast cancer, but this largely depends on tumor subtype, which remained an independent predictor of locoregional recurrence when pathologic response was taken into account ...
Young women with early breast cancer may be more likely to resume menses and become pregnant when treated with a luteinizing hormone–releasing hormone (LH-RH) analog (also known as a gonadotropin-releasing hormone [GnRH] analog) along with chemotherapy, according to the final follow-up of...
Subcutaneous implants containing testosterone in combination with a low dose of anastrozole can relieve menopausal symptoms in breast cancer survivors, according to research presented at the 2014 ASCO Breast Cancer Symposium.1 “Menopausal symptoms can be quite severe in breast cancer survivors in...
Harold Burstein, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, spoke to The ASCO Post about the multidisciplinary discussion of margin assessment during the 2014 Breast Cancer Symposium. Should Oncologists Be Concerned? “There is a real art to being a good...
Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), Chief Executive Officer of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), received the Ellen V. Sigal Advocacy Leadership Award from the national advocacy organization Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) at its 18th Annual Cancer Leadership Awards Reception held...
In the neoadjuvant treatment of breast cancer, the importance of achieving a pathologic complete response (pCR) varies substantially by breast cancer subtype. Patients are increasingly interested in this outcome, but it means different things to different patients, according to two breast cancer...
Robert S. Miller, MD, FACP, FASCO, Assistant Professor of Oncology and Oncology Medical Information Officer at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, has been named Medical Director of the Institute for Quality (iQ) of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Dr....
The bane of treating non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with druggable mutations has been the development of resistance to targeted agents. New compounds are meeting the challenge of treating resistant disease, according to Fadlo R. Khuri, MD, FACP, Professor and Chair of Hematology and...
Navidea Biopharmaceuticals, Inc, recently announced that technetium 99m tilmanocept (Lymphoseek Injection) has been granted Orphan Drug Designation by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for use in sentinel lymph node detection in patients with cancer of the head and neck. The designation ...
Antibody-drug conjugates are being tested against several types of lymphomas and for some of these agents, “activity is quite impressive,” Andrew M. Evens, DO, MSc, reported at the recent Best of ASCO meeting in Chicago. Dr. Evens, Professor of Medicine, Chief, Division of Hematology/Oncology, and...
This year’s Best of ASCO meeting held in Seattle featured topics that both riveted attendees and pushed their buttons, according to program chair Alan P. Venook, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco. “I am extremely pleased with the quality of the presentations from the faculty, but...
Survivors of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who never smoked or who are former smokers at the time of diagnosis have a lower risk of developing secondary primary lung cancers compared to those who are current smokers, suggesting that increased tobacco exposure is associated with a higher risk...
Optimal duration of androgen-deprivation therapy as part of primary therapy for prostate cancer continues to be an important question. Two well-conducted studies reported recently at the 56th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) provide data that can help inform...
Although diverse stakeholders agree that health reform is needed, there is little consensus on the specifics of that reform. Best of ASCO Seattle attendees put a number of pointed questions to health economist Rena Conti, PhD, of the University of Chicago, asking about thorny issues such as cost...
Value-based health-care reform is happening. We have to get on board,” Rena Conti, PhD, a health economist at the University of Chicago, advised attendees of the Best of ASCO Seattle meeting. She discussed highlights from Annual Meeting sessions that addressed the impact of the Affordable Care Act...
I swear by Apollo the physician, and Asclepius, and Hygieia and Panacea and all the gods and goddesses as my witnesses, that, according to my ability and judgement, I will keep this Oath and this contract: To hold him who taught me this art equally dear to me as my parents, to be a partner in life...
On the face of it, the idea that a code of professional conduct dating to the ancient Iron Age could possibly retain any relevance in the current era of “Big Data,” religious and cultural pluralism, trillion-dollar government budgets, and nanotechnology seems preposterous. Yet the well-publicized...
With a $2 million, 5-year grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine will examine the molecular mechanisms that allow certain cancers, particularly multiple myeloma, to spread to the bone. The project could lead to new...
Regretfully, The ASCO Post has learned that Kelly Traw, 49, passed away on September 2, 2014, at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. While her obituary did not mention a cause of death, it said that, “She will be greatly missed by her extended family and by the many friends who supported her...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) honored Zhu Chen, MD, PhD, with the 2014 AACR Award for Distinguished Public Service and Global Impact in Cancer Research in Biomedical Science at the AACR’s inaugural meeting in China, called New Horizons in Cancer Research: Harnessing...
BOOKMARK Title: Therapeutic Revolution: The History of Medical Oncology From Early Days to the Creation of the SubspecialtyAuthor: Pierre R. BandPublisher: Bentham SciencePublication date: 2014Price: $39.00 (eBook); $78.00 (print on demand); 213 pagesAvailable at: eurekaselect.com According to...
NOVEMBER Chemotherapy Foundation SymposiumNovember 4 - 8 • New York, New YorkFor more information:www.chemotherapyfoundationsymp-osium.org Diagnostic Error in Medicine 5th International ConferenceNovember 11-14 • Baltimore, MarylandFor more information:www.hopkinscme.edu/CourseDetail.aspx/80028747...
The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) are partnering to launch and support a national registry for stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) treatments. The partnership was announced recently at the ASTRO Annual Meeting. The SRS...
America’s biopharmaceutical research companies are currently developing nearly 800 new medicines and vaccines for cancer, according to a report released recently by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).1 Perseverance Needed “In recent decades, we have seen great progress ...
Gifts totaling $1 million in honor of the 40th anniversary of the cure for testicular cancer were recently announced at a celebration for the physician scientist who developed the treatment. Family, friends, colleagues, and men grateful for their lives gathered at the Indianapolis Museum of Art to...
Testicular cancer is one of oncology’s true success stories. It is a highly treatable disease, usually curable, that most often develops in young and middle-aged men. Despite the success in testicular cancer, there are still clinical challenges ranging from staging to optimum therapeutic...
Two landmark randomized studies demonstrated improved survival of patients with head and neck cancer receiving the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) antibody cetuximab (Erbitux) concurrent with radiotherapy compared with radiotherapy alone,1 and similar improvement in patients with...
The R-CHOP regimen (rituximab [Rituxan] plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone) was a major advance in treating diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, but experts are seeking to up the ante and identify ways to continue to improve outcomes beyond that achieved with R-CHOP. “We are...
The Broach Foundation for Brain Cancer Research has made a $5 million commitment to support glioblastoma multiforme research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. James and Jamie Broach established the Broach Foundation in 2011, just months after Mr. Broach was diagnosed...
Pamela Kreeger, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is among a group of researchers to receive a 2014 New Innovator Award from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Kreeger will receive funding of nearly $2.3 million. She has chosen to study...
Adjuvant trastuzumab (Herceptin) was shown to be effective in patients with breast cancers ≤ 2 cm, regardless of estrogen receptor status, in a meta-analysis1 of five chemotherapy trials, but a “pressing question” remaining is whether T1a/b, N0 tumors warrant the use of adjuvant trastuzumab, Andrew ...
Transformations in the treatment of early-stage breast cancer have shifted the therapeutic approach from a “stage-centered treatment algorithm” to a “tumor biology-centered treatment algorithm,” Priyanka Sharma, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas...
Combination chemotherapy for triple-negative breast cancer is anthracycline- and taxane-based and has not really changed much in the past 10 years, but “we are starting to see emerging data with selective activity of platinum agents,” Priyanka Sharma, MD, told participants at the Best of ASCO...
ASCO Answer’s new Palliative Care booklet teaches patients and their families about this specialized area of medicine, explaining the difference between palliative care and hospice care and how palliative care is more than receiving a drug to ease physical symptoms. The booklet also includes...
ASCO is among the medical professional societies supporting the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable (NCCRT) by recruiting physician leaders from within its membership for a pilot program called Links of Care. The program was established to promote health equity and to improve access to colorectal ...
The Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO has received a major commitment of support for the development of CancerLinQ™ from Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Inc (CTCA), a national network of five cancer hospitals. The donation is the largest received to date in support of CancerLinQ, a...
"Illumination” is a provocative word, evoking as it does the banishment of the darkness of ignorance by the light of new knowledge. Today, we are benefiting from a steady stream of new knowledge about the molecular basis of cancer and the interaction between host and tumor immunology. The concept...
Five decades ago, cancer was viewed as a monolithic and largely untreatable disease, with only a handful of hard-to-tolerate and mostly ineffective therapies available. Since that time, major U.S. investments in cancer research have led to dramatic improvements in our biologic understanding of...
The age of the Internet and worldwide connectivity has made it easier than ever to send out surveys to a wide audience quickly and easily. This ease of access can make surveys an affordable and readily available research tool for independent investigators, but it can also make surveys an...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given Priority Review designation to the New Drug Application for lenvatinib mesylate as a treatment for progressive radioactive iodine–refractory differentiated thyroid cancer. Lenvatinib is an oral multiple receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor with a...
In a new study of patients with cancer who smoke, those using e-cigarettes in addition to traditional cigarettes were more nicotine-dependent and equally or less likely to have quit smoking traditional cigarettes than nonusers.1 The rising use of e-cigarettes has raised many questions among...
The ZERO Cancer Research Fund has awarded the Jim Lafferty Memorial Research Grant in the amount of $45,000 to Peter Carroll, MD, MPH, of the University of California San Francisco, for the purpose of researching new and improved methods for early detection of prostate cancer. The grant is part of...