Switching from an aromatase inhibitor to fulvestrant upon early identification of the ESR1 mutation in plasma—before disease progression—doubled progression-free survival in the phase III PADA-1 trial, presented at the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.1 “PADA-1 is the first trial to...
President Richard M. Nixon signed the National Cancer Act into law on December 23, 1971. The unprecedented legislation granted sweeping authority to the Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to develop a national cancer program that included the NCI, other research institutes, and federal ...
In the primary analysis of the phase III ZUMA-7 trial, examining second-line therapy for relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma, the CAR T-cell therapy axicabtagene ciloleucel led to a fourfold increase in event-free survival over the standard of care. These findings were presented at the...
The phase III PANTHER trial, which evaluated pevonedistat plus azacitidine vs azacitidine alone in higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes, chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, and low–blast count acute myeloid leukemia (AML), failed to meet its primary endpoint of event-free survival, though lessons...
Peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) with lutetium-177 (Lu-177) dotatate is a treatment for well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved in 2018, but clinicians have lacked a metric for predicting its benefit on an individual patient basis....
Independent drug action—not synergy nor additivity—accounted for the clinical efficacy of nearly all examined combination therapies involving immune checkpoint inhibitors in clinical trials, according to results from a retrospective analysis published by Palmer et al in Clinical Cancer Research....
Despite growing national awareness of health-care inequities, cancer care for many rural Americans remains inadequate. To shed some light on the challenges faced by patients with cancer in rural areas, The ASCO Post spoke with Mary Charlton, PhD, Associate Professor of Epidemiology in the...
In a recent phase II clinical trial, the combination of the PD-L1 inhibitor durvalumab and the CTLA-4 inhibitor tremelimumab curtailed tumor growth in some patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that was resistant to a single immunotherapy agent. The addition of radiation therapy to the...
Commenting on the update of RxPONDER presented at the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium were Anne Blaes, MD, MS, Associate Professor of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Minnesota and Co-Director of the Screening, Prevention, Etiology and Cancer Survivorship Program at the Masonic...
Updated results of the SWOG S1007 RxPONDER trial confirmed the key takeaway from the previous analysis: adjuvant chemotherapy benefits premenopausal women but not postmenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative disease, one to three positive lymph nodes, and a 21-gene Oncotype DX ...
In a study published by Charnita Zeigler-Johnson, PhD, MPH, and colleagues in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, gathering men at high risk for developing prostate cancer for discussion about prostate cancer or other health concerns increased their knowledge about prostate cancer...
Two recent studies correct a long-standing misconception about the origins of Barrett’s esophagus and, in doing so, may point to new avenues of treatment or prevention to lower the risk of esophageal cancer. The first study, published by Singh et al in the journal Gastroenterology, demonstrated...
Lynda Chin, MD, of the University of Texas, Austin Dell Medical School and Apricity Health, discusses precision medicine, barriers to its progress, and the challenges that must be met to facilitate better outcomes for patients. Building evidence and trust is key, Dr. Chin explains, as is developing ...
A molecular feature in prostate cancer called endogenous retroviral (ERV) RNA has been found to have prognostic value and also distinguish differences between prostate tumors in men of African and European or Middle Eastern ancestry, according to a study published by Kumar et al in the journal...
Elizabeth A. Mittendorf, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center, discusses the progress made in recent years treating patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), including approval of the immunotherapy agents pembrolizumab and sacituzumab govitecan-hziy, a new standard of ...
Anil Aktas-Samur, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses study findings on the genomic characterization of non-progressor smoldering multiple myeloma, results that may provide a molecular definition of the disease as well as its risk-driving features. Combining this low-risk model with...
By 2040, the number of cancer survivors in the United States is expected to climb from 17 million today to 26.1 million, with most living 5 years or more after their diagnosis. However, many of these survivors will need ongoing monitoring for treatment-related side effects and cancer recurrence...
New research indicates that psychological distress from cancer and its treatment can cause many adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors to seek additional care and burden them with considerable medical expenses. The findings were published by Abdelhadi et al in the journal Cancer....
A team of researchers has revealed some of the mechanisms by which polyps develop into colorectal cancer, setting the framework for improved surveillance for the disease. Their study, published by Chen et al in the journal Cell, describes findings using a single-cell transcriptomic and imaging...
Although the incidence and mortality rates in colorectal cancer have dropped by 3.6% each year from 2007 to 2016 for people aged 55 and older—mainly because of increased colorectal cancer screening, advances in therapy, and reductions in smoking—these rates have increased by 2% each year during the ...
A team of scientists has used artificial intelligence (AI) to identify which patients with certain head and neck cancers may benefit from reducing the intensity of treatments such as radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Their findings were published by Corredor et al in the Journal of the National...
“A disconnect between patient expectations and outcomes” is a major contributor to treatment-related regret among patients with localized prostate cancer, according to a study published in JAMA Oncology.1 The disconnect, “both as it relates to treatment efficacy and adverse effects, appears to...
In an interim analysis of the Chinese phase III REALITY trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Lin et al found that apatinib, a highly selective VEGFR2 inhibitor, significantly prolonged progression-free survival vs placebo in patients with progressive, locally advanced or metastatic, radioactive...
On January 3, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amended the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to expand the use of a single booster dose to include use in individuals aged 12 to 15 years; shorten the time between the completion of primary...
Representatives Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Fred Upton (R-MI) recently introduced new legislation intended to invest in research and deliver more cures to patients. The newly introduced 21st Century Cures 2.0 Act (Cures 2.0) is intended to build on the landmark 21st Century Cures Act, which was signed ...
OCE Insights is an occasional column developed for The ASCO Post by members of the Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In this installment, Julie A. Schneider, PhD, Associate Director for Research Strategy and Partnerships, OCE; Jennifer J. Gao, MD,...
In the past decade, use of immunotherapy has arisen as a novel adjunct to multiple myeloma therapy. Daratumumab is the first anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in November 2015, for use in treating relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.1...
Invited discussant Ian Chau, MD, Consultant Medical Oncologist at The Royal Marsden Hospital in London and Surrey in the United Kingdom, said the findings from COSMIC-3121 are not mature enough to establish cabozantinib/atezolizumab as a new front-line option for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma...
The phase III COSMIC-312 study has met its primary endpoint, showing a significant improvement in progression-free survival with cabozantinib plus atezolizumab compared with sorafenib in treatment-naive hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), investigators reported at a European Society for Medical...
Achieving undetectable measurable residual disease (MRD) is an important milestone in the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) as well as those with other hematologic malignancies undergoing treatment. Now a small phase II study, presented at the 2021 American Society of...
Results of the phase III randomized KEYNOTE-355 trial showed that the addition of the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab to investigator’s choice of first-line chemotherapy improved progression-free and overall survival in women with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer compared with placebo and...
ASCO has elected Lynn M. Schuchter, MD, FASCO, a long-time member and volunteer, to serve as its President beginning in June 2023. Dr. Schuchter will take office as President-Elect immediately after the ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago in June 2022. Seven new members were also elected to the ASCO...
Several of the researchersand scientists at the 42nd annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), held December 10–14, attended the event on the basis of scholarships awarded through SABCS and its cosponsor, the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR). The goal of the scholarships is...
In October 2021, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) prostate caycer panel modified its guidelines (NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology [NCCN Guidelines®]) for low-risk prostate cancer to remove the word “preferred option” for active surveillance, giving equal weight to...
Over the past year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval to many novel drugs and new indications for older therapeutic agents used in oncology and hematology. NOVEMBER Pafolacianine for Ovarian Cancer Lesions: On November 29, pafolacianine (Cytalux), an imaging drug,...
In a phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Suresh S. Ramalingam, MD, of Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University School of Medicine, and colleagues found that the addition of the PARP inhibitor veliparib to platinum-based chemotherapy did not improve overall survival in...
The Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation, the National Medical Fellowships, and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) recently announced the first group of 52 physicians selected for its Diversity in Clinical Trials Career Development Program. The 52 physicians selected by an independent...
Although research so far has failed to uncover the root causes of the development of young-onset colorectal cancer, what is certain is that although colorectal cancer rates are declining in older adults, they are on a steady rise in people younger than age 50, especially those between the ages of...
In an analysis from the Children’s Oncology Group AAML1031 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lamble et al found that increased CD123 expression was associated with high-risk genetic alterations and poorer treatment outcomes in pediatric patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid...
The COVID-19 pandemic may have changed some aspects of health care forever. At the 2021 JADPRO Live Virtual event, a panel discussion focused on how several cancer centers faced challenges, and what changes the participants view as positive.1 JADPRO Live is an annual educational conference for...
A review article by Pfister et al published in Cancer Discovery summarizes the inaugural classification of pediatric tumors soon to be published by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as part of the new World Health Organization (WHO) Classification of Tumors series, including an online ...
Research demonstrating a novel approach that may reduce cytokine-release syndrome associated with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy was presented by Marcela Maus, MD, PhD, and colleagues at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition (Abstract 1723)...
The American Cancer Society recently released its report on the status of cancer disparities in the United States for 2021. Researchers analyzed comprehensive and up-to-date data on racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in cancer occurrence; this includes incidence, stage at diagnosis,...
The POLARIX study found patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) had a significantly higher likelihood of survival without disease progression 2 years after receiving a new drug combination known as pola-R-CHP (polatuzumab vedotin-piiq with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and...
In the primary analysis of the phase III ZUMA-7 trial, the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy axicabtagene ciloleucel led to a fourfold increase in event-free survival over the standard of care in the second-line treatment of relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma, according to...
For the first-line treatment of newly diagnosed, transplant-eligible patients with multiple myeloma, the achievement of measurable residual disease (MRD) negativity was significantly greater when the anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody isatuximab was added to the standard three-drug induction regimen of...
An interim analysis of the TRANSFORM trial comparing the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapy lisocabtagene maraleucel to standard of care found that the CAR T-cell therapy significantly improved event-free survival for patients with large B-cell lymphoma that persisted or returned...
On December 23, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon signed the National Cancer Act into law. At that time, cancer was the nation’s second leading cause of death; only about one of two people diagnosed with cancer survived at least 5 years—compared with two of three people diagnosed with the disease...
A diagnosis, in 2020, of stage IV adenocarcinoma non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was found accidentally. I was 55 at the time and in the best physical shape of my life. I had spent the previous year and a half on a diet and exercise regimen that had rendered me 35 pounds lighter and feeling...
Following a review of new data and additional analyses of previous data concerning colorectal cancer, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) “concluded the evidence is inadequate that low-dose aspirin use reduces colorectal cancer incidence or mortality.”1 Consequently, a draft...