Neurotoxicity in advanced breast cancer is not limited to chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, according to Matti Aapro, MD, of IMO Clinique de Genolier, Switzerland. Surgery, radiation therapy, and medical therapy can all have detrimental effects on either the central or peripheral nervous ...
Seattle Children’s Hospital has opened the first chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapy trial in the United States for children and young adults with relapsed or refractory CD19- and CD22-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). With this more robust defense, researchers hope the...
As low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening for lung cancer has moved from clinical trials to clinical practice, management issues are growing more urgent for screening centers around the country: for instance, how to support referrals from and to other providers; how to ensure the quality of...
Formal discussant of this trial, Michael Boyer, MBBS, PhD, a medical oncologist at Sydney Cancer Centre, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, Australia, was enthusiastic about these results, with the caveat that overall survival data are needed. “Unresectable stage III non–small cell lung...
The PACIFIC study showed that the addition of the programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor durvalumab (Imfinzi) following chemoradiotherapy for patients with unresectable stage III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) dramatically improved progression-free survival compared with placebo....
Matteo Lambertini, MD, of the Institut Jules Bordet, discusses the results of five clinical trials investigating temporary ovarian suppression with gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs during chemotherapy as a strategy to preserve ovarian function and fertility in premenopausal early breast...
Elizabeth A. Mittendorf, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the growing role of immunotherapy in treating breast disease, the evidence of biomarkers that may be associated with response to therapy, and the opportunities to perform robust correlative studies.
Meta-analysis of individual patient data from five randomized clinical trials provided a high level of evidence that treatment with a gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog (GnRHa) could safely and effectively protect ovarian function and potentially preserve fertility in premenopausal women...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) presented the 2017 awards for outstanding service and public service on December 10 during the 59th Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta. Tom Brokaw is the 2017 recipient of the ASH Outstanding Service Award, presented annually to an individual who has ...
With the recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals of two chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell products, this novel approach seems to be moving into the mainstream. The approvals were tisagenlecleucel (also known as CTL019; Kymriah) for the treatment of pediatric B-cell acute...
Acupuncture significantly reduced joint pain for postmenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer receiving treatment with an aromatase inhibitor compared with both sham acupuncture and no treatment, according to data from the randomized, phase III SWOG S1200 trial presented by Hershman et al at ...
Over the past 15 years, multiple myeloma has garnered among the highest number of regulatory approvals by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the management of all phases of the disease. This fast-expanding repertoire of treatment options has pushed the median survival of multiple...
This year has been an important transitional period for oncology providers to start collecting their performance data to meet the requirements of the Quality Payment Program outlined in the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). The Quality Payment Program is a...
Adding the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitor ribociclib (Kisqali) to standard endocrine therapy with temporary ovarian suppression significantly improved progression-free survival for pre- and perimenopausal women with advanced hormone receptor–positive (HR-positive), HER2-negative...
A combination of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and trastuzumab (Herceptin) tested in patients with trastuzumab-resistant advanced HER2-positive breast cancer was well tolerated and had clinical benefit in patients whose tumors were positive for a biomarker for pembrolizumab, according to data presented...
In a webcast press briefing prior to the 2017 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, journalists got a peek at some of the most anticipated abstracts. ASH President Kenneth C. Anderson, MD, Director of the Lebow Institute for Myeloma Therapeutics and Jerome Lipper...
Richard G. Gray, MSc, of the University of Oxford, discusses an Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group meta-analysis of 21,000 women in 16 randomized trials, which showed that increasing the dose density of adjuvant chemotherapy by shortening intervals between courses or sequentially...
Louis Fehrenbacher, MD, of Kaiser Permanente, discusses study findings comparing adjuvant chemotherapy with doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide followed by weekly paclitaxel—or docetaxel and cyclophosphamide—with or without a year of trastuzumab in women with node-positive or high-risk node-negative...
Debu Tripathy, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses phase III study findings on first-line ribociclib vs placebo with goserelin and tamoxifen or a nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor in premenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced breast...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Charles A. Schiffer, MD, of Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University School of Medicine, and colleagues, ASCO has issued a clinical practice guideline update on platelet transfusions in patients with cancer. The updated guideline replaces ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chaturvedi et al found that whereas prophylactic human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination has reduced the incidence of oral HPV infection in young adults compared with no vaccination, low uptake of the vaccine has resulted in a modest overall...
Wolfgang Janni, MD, PhD, of Ulm University, discusses study findings that showed extended adjuvant bisphosphonate treatment over 5 years in early breast cancer does not improve disease-free and overall survival when compared with 2 years of treatment (Abstract GS1-06).
Richard Pazdur, MD, of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s Oncology Center of Excellence, discusses the rapid changes in evaluating and approving new and effective agents, incorporating the view of patients in the process, and modernizing clinical trial design with broader eligibility...
Silvia C. Formenti, MD, of Weill Cornell Medicine, discusses the high therapeutic potential of combining radiotherapy with immunotherapy and findings that show radiation dose and fractionation seem particularly relevant to the success of abscopal responses. The science has now matured to clinical...
On December 5, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted full approval of bevacizumab (Avastin) for the treatment of adults with recurrent glioblastoma that has progressed following prior therapy. Bevacizumab was previously granted provisional approval in this setting under the FDA's ...
Increasing the dose intensity of chemotherapy—by either shortening the intervals between the cycles or by sequential administration instead of concurrent administration of the drugs—reduced the risk of early-stage breast cancer recurrence and death compared with standard chemotherapy...
Adding trastuzumab (Herceptin) to standard adjuvant chemotherapy did not improve invasive disease–free survival for patients with early-stage breast cancer found to have low levels of HER2, defined as immunohistochemistry (IHC) 1–positive or IHC 2-positive and/or in situ hybridization...
In a phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Javle et al found that the oral pan-fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) kinase inhibitor BGJ398 was active in FGFR-altered advanced cholangiocarcinoma. It is estimated that FGFR2 fusions/translocations are present in 13% to 17%...
In a phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Wick et al found that adding bevacizumab (Avastin) to lomustine at first disease progression did not improve overall survival in patients with progressive glioblastoma. Study Details In the trial, 437 patients with disease...
The phase III KRISTINE trial has shown that neoadjuvant therapy with docetaxel, carboplatin, and trastuzumab (Herceptin) plus pertuzumab (Perjeta) resulted in a higher pathologic complete response rate vs ado-trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla) plus pertuzumab, as well as a higher incidence of severe...
An analysis of bacteria present in the mouth showed that some types of bacteria that lead to periodontal disease were associated with higher risk of esophageal cancer, according to a study published by Peters et al in Cancer Research. Esophageal cancer is the eighth most common cancer and the...
Patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who are treated with combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) can safely undergo chemotherapy to treat associated lymphomas at the same time, researchers from the AIDS Malignancy Consortium have found. These findings were published by Tan et al in...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Ferring Pharmaceuticals Inc approval to market a combination sodium picosulfate, magnesium oxide, and anhydrous citric acid oral solution (Clenpiq) for cleansing the colon in adults undergoing a colonoscopy. With availability planned in...
A new study suggests that an American Cancer Society (ACS) program has been effective in promoting improvements in colorectal cancer screening rates in federally qualified health centers (FQHCs). The study data, published by Riehman et al in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, shows the...
In a phase II study reported in Blood Advances, Green et al found that tandem autologous/allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) followed by bortezomib (Velcade) maintenance produced good results in patients with newly diagnosed high-risk multiple myeloma. Poorer outcomes were observed...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Herbst et al, the phase III SWOG S0819 trial showed no overall benefit of adding cetuximab (Erbitux) to carboplatin/paclitaxel both with and without bevacizumab (Avastin) in patients with previously untreated stage IV non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved trastuzumab-dkst (Ogivri) as a biosimilar to trastuzumab (Herceptin) for the treatment of patients with breast or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma whose tumors overexpress the HER2 gene. The drug is the first...
The phase III SOLE trial has shown no disease-free survival benefit with extended intermittent vs continuous adjuvant letrozole in postmenopausal women with breast cancer. These findings were reported by Colleoni et al in The Lancet Oncology. As noted by the investigators, the findings suggest an...
On November 30, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the FoundationOne CDx (F1CDx), the first breakthrough-designated, next-generation sequencing–based in vitro diagnostic test that can detect genetic mutations in 324 genes and 2 genomic signatures in any solid tumor type. The ...
Today, ASCO President Bruce E. Johnson, MD, FASCO, released the following statement: “A report released today by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine underscores the imperative our nation faces to address the affordability of drugs for medical conditions that have...
A new physician assistant (PA)-based study finds that despite personal satisfaction in the oncology specialty, high rates of burnout—over one-third of PAs (34.8%)—are common. These findings reveal important factors that could help to decrease burnout and improve the oncology workforce...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) has created a new resource for patients living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who develop acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related Kaposi sarcoma. This newly released NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN...
Compared with the non-Hispanic white (NHW) population, the urban American Indian and Alaskan Native (AIAN) community was more likely to have lower survival rates following invasive prostate and breast cancer, according to a new study by Emerson et al in Cancer Research. “It’s been...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Oudkerk et al, a European Union (EU) expert group has issued a position statement on low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening for lung cancer, proposing a near-term phased implementation of screening in high-risk regions within 18 months and extension to all ...
On November 28, Merck KGaA and Pfizer announced that the phase III JAVELIN Gastric 300 trial did not meet its primary endpoint of superior overall survival with single-agent avelumab (Bavencio) compared with physician's choice of chemotherapy. The trial investigated avelumab as a third-line...
In a longitudinal cohort study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Fenton et al found that discussion of cancer prognosis between oncologists and patients did not worsen patient judgment of the quality of the patient-physician relationship. Study Details The study involved 265 adult...
An analysis in the Dutch Chemoradiotherapy for Esophageal Cancer Followed by Surgery Study (CROSS) reported by Noordman et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology showed no adverse effect of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy vs surgery alone on postsurgery health-related quality of life in patients with ...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Soria et al, the phase III FLAURA trial has shown a significant progression-free survival benefit with the third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) osimertinib (Tagrisso) vs standard EGFR TKIs in...
A recent study showed approximately one-fifth of patients with cancer experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) several months after diagnosis, and many of these patients continued to live with PTSD years later. Published by Chan et al in Cancer, the findings highlight the need for early...
When choosing their preferred treatment, patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) place the highest value on treatments that deliver the longest progression-free survival, but they are willing to swap some drug efficacy for a reduced risk of serious adverse events, according to a study...