Data from the phase II ALTA clinical trial evaluating brigatinib (Alunbrig) in patients with locally advanced or metastatic anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have disease progression on crizotinib were presented at the International...
Early specialist palliative care for patients that were recently diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma does not impact quality-of-life measures, according to research presented by Fraser Brims, MBcHB, MRCP, MD, FRACP, of Curtin University in Australia, at the International Association...
The final efficacy and safety data obtained from a phase I/II trial combining lurbinectedin (PM1183) with doxorubicin in relapsed small cell lung cancer were presented during a Research Perspectives oral session at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 18th World...
An Italian single-center prospective cohort study suggests that adjuvant treatment with the beta-blocker propranolol significantly reduces the risk of melanoma recurrence in patients with stage IB to IIIA cutaneous disease. The findings were reported in JAMA Oncology by De Giorgi et al. Preclinical ...
In a French phase III trial, maintenance rituximab (Rituxan) improved event-free survival vs observation after autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) in younger patints with mantle cell lymphoma. These findings were reported by Le Gouill et al in The New England Journal of Medicine. Study...
On October 12, ASCO President Bruce E. Johnson, MD, FASCO, issued the following statement: The Trump administration's move to expand the rights of employers to opt out of the requirement for contraceptive coverage would have unexpected and deleterious consequences for patients of childbearing age...
As reported by Mok et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, overall survival analysis of the phase III IMPRESS trial indicated a poorer outcome when adding gefitinib (Iressa) vs placebo to chemotherapy after disease progression on first-line gefitinib in epidermal growth factor receptor...
On October 12, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared the first 7-Tesla (7T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device, more than doubling the static magnetic field strength available for use in the United States. The Magnetom Terra is the first 7T MRI system cleared for clinical use in...
On October 12, Eli Lilly and Company announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review designation to its New Drug Application (NDA) for abemaciclib (Verzenio), a cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitor. MONARCH 3 The NDA was based upon the positive interim...
On October 9, Clovis Oncology announced that the company submitted a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for rucaparib (Rubraca) as maintenance treatment of patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer...
Bruno C. Medeiros, MD, of Stanford Cancer Institute, discusses emerging novel agents and targeted molecular abnormalities in the management of acute myeloid leukemia.
On October 10, Eli Lilly and Company announced that its phase III JUNIPER study evaluating abemaciclib (Verzenio), a cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4 and CDK6 inhibitor, as monotherapy in KRAS-mutated, advanced non–small lung cancer (NSCLC) did not meet its primary endpoint of overall...
National Cancer Institute (NCI) researchers have found that for the most common high-risk type of human papillomavirus (HPV) to cause cervical cancer, an important viral gene may need to have a precise DNA sequence. The findings, published by Mirabello et al in Cell, contribute to a better...
In a systematic review and meta-analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Barroso-Sousa et al evaluated the incidence of endocrine dysfunction in patients receiving currently approved immune checkpoint inhibitors for various advanced solid tumors. Patients who received combination therapy were found to...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Balar et al, first-line pembrolizumab (Keytruda) produced durable responses in cisplatin-ineligible patients with locally advanced and unresectable or metastatic urothelial cancer in the phase II KEYNOTE-052 trial. The trial supported the accelerated approval...
Jane N. Winter, MD, of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, discusses the use of novel targeted therapies for newly diagnosed and relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma.
Ranjana H. Advani, MD, of Stanford Cancer Institute, discusses the novel immunomodulatory agents used to manage patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma.
Sharyn L. Kurtz, PA-C, MPAS, MA, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the long-term side effects associated with curative treatments for Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma and how to develop an individualized follow-up schedule for survivors.
David G. Maloney, MD, PhD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, reviews the clinical data and ongoing trials evaluating immunotherapy in the setting of relapsed or refractory acute lymphocytic leukemia and discusses major adverse events of treatment.
William G. Wierda, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses sequencing therapy in patients with relapsed/refractory CLL/SLL based on prior treatment and the presence of cytogenetic abnormalities.
Ruben A. Mesa, MD, of The University of Texas Health San Antonio Cancer Center, discusses the role of JAK2 inhibitors in treating polycythemia vera and essential thrombocythemia and how to develop individualized therapy based on risk stratification.
On October 9, AstraZeneca announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Breakthrough Therapy designation for osimertinib (Tagrisso) for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation–positive non–small cell lung ...
Trastuzumab (Herceptin) therapy for breast cancers that express the HER2 protein does not increase the risk of complications at the surgical site in women who undergo immediate breast reconstruction after mastectomy, according to findings published by Shammas et al in the Journal of the American...
In a propensity score–matched analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Mokdad et al found that adjuvant chemotherapy had a survival benefit vs observation after preoperative chemoradiotherapy and resection in patients with locally advanced gastroesophageal cancer. Study Details The study...
In a study in the Danish population reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Salz et al found that preexisting cardiovascular conditions were associated with an increased risk of heart failure in survivors of aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). The standard use of anthracycline chemotherapy ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Goetz et al, an interim analysis in the phase III MONARCH 3 trial has shown a significant progression-free survival benefit with the addition of the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitor abemaciclib (Verzenio) to a nonsteroidal aromatase...
Although lymphodepletion chemotherapy followed by an infusion of CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T cells has produced high response rates in phase I studies of patients with refractory CD19-positive B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), chronic lymphocytic leukemia...
A self-controlled clinical trial by Hanai et al investigating the efficacy of cryotherapy for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy in patients with breast cancer treated with paclitaxel has found that cryotherapy resulted in a clinically and statistically significant...
A Swedish population-based observational study has shown that comorbidity is a significant factor in other-cause but not prostate cancer–specific mortality after adjustment for patient, tumor, and treatment factors among men with prostate cancer. The findings were reported in the Journal of...
In a Japanese analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Haratani et al found that development of immune-related adverse events was associated with improved survival among patients receiving nivolumab (Opdivo) for advanced or recurrent non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Study Details The study...
Overweight and obesity are associated with increased risk of 13 types of cancer—and these cancers account for about 40% of all cancers diagnosed in the United States in 2014—according to the latest Vital Signs report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Overall, the...
On October 2, Seattle Genetics, Inc, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) in combination with chemotherapy for the front-line treatment of patients with advanced classical Hodgkin lymphoma. The positive ...
Breast cancer during pregnancy is relatively uncommon; however, it poses a significant clinical challenge to the patient and her multidisciplinary care team. To shed light on this difficult issue, The ASCO Post spoke with Carey K. Anders, MD, a medical oncologist and researcher at the University...
DANA-FARBER CANCER INSTITUTE has announced the opening of the new Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies and Healthy Living. Increasing data have indicated that integrative therapies can help alleviate the side effects of cancer therapy. The Zakim Center, as it is commonly referred to,...
THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (AMA) recognizes influential female physician leaders as part of Women in Medicine Month each September. To showcase the accomplishments of these leaders, the AMA Women Physicians Section and the AMA Foundation recently announced the winners of the 2017 Joan F....
Breast cancer specialist Ann H. Partridge, MD, MPH, was born in Manhasset, Long Island, and grew up several miles east in Muttontown, New York. Since tiny Muttontown didn’t have its own school system, Dr. Partridge went to high school in nearby Locust Valley, a town on Long Island’s North Shore,...
ON JULY 31, 2017, nivolumab (Opdivo) was granted accelerated approval for treatment of patients 12 years and older with DNA mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) and microsatellite instability– high (MSI-H) metastatic colorectal cancer progressing following treatment with a fluoropyrimidine,...
PATIENTS WITH DNA mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) metastatic colorectal cancer display a high level of microsatellite instability (MSI-H)1 and demonstrate poor chemosensitivity and shorter overall survival than patients with mismatch repair–proficient (pMMR) metastatic metastatic colorectal...
THE PHASE II CHECKMATE 142 TRIAL has shown that nivolumab (Opdivo) produces durable responses in previously treated recurrent or metastatic DNA mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR)/ microsatellite instability–high (MSI-H) colorectal cancer. These study findings were reported in The Lancet Oncology...
ON SEPTEMBER 22, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to nivolumab (Opdivo) for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients who have been previously treated with sorafenib (Nexavar). CheckMate 040 APPROVAL WAS BASED on a 154-patient subgroup of ...
Studies show that only about one-third of patients with acute myeloid leukemia who have detectable amounts of cancer cells in their blood at the time of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation will be alive 3 years later, compared with nearly three-quarters of those patients without minimal...
THE PHASE III MSLT- II TRIAL showed that completion dissection was not associated with improved melanoma-specific overall survival vs observation in patients with sentinel-node metastasis, although a benefit was observed in regional disease control. The findings were reported in The New England...
IN WHAT APPEARS TO BE the largest blood-based biomarker study of a checkpoint inhibitor, an RNA transcript–based gene classifier was able to predict for melanoma patients’ response to tremelimumab. The study was recently published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer.1 “Our study, in many...
NADIA HARBECK, MD, PhD, of the Breast Center at the University of Munich, Germany, said the findings of LORELEI are among a growing list of indications that “the future is bright for endocrine-based therapy.” Although the results were hypothesis-generating and not yet practice-changing, she...
FOR THE first time, an inhibitor of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway (taselisib) used in combination with endocrine therapy in the neoadjuvant setting improved response rates over endocrine therapy alone—with good tolerability—in women with early breast cancer, according to the phase...
FORMAL DISCUSSANT of ARIEL3, Sandro Pignata, MD, of the IRCCS National Cancer Institute, “Fondazione G. Pascale,” Naples, Italy, said: “This is new evidence for maintenance therapy with rucaparib [Rubraca]. These results are extraordinary, particularly in the BRCA mutation patients, but also in...
EVIDENCE CONTINUES to mount for the benefits of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibition in ovarian cancer. Rucaparib (Rubraca) maintenance therapy after response to platinum-containing therapy significantly improved progression-free survival in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer compared ...
THE U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION (FDA) has granted accelerated approval to copanlisib (Aliqopa) for the treatment of adults with relapsed follicular lymphoma who have received at least two prior systemic therapies. Copanlisib is a kinase inhibitor that works by blocking several enzymes that...
STAYING UP-TO-DATE in the fast-paced world of oncology literature is a daunting task at best. To assist with that task, The ASCO Post has assembled an assortment of studies recently published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Sorafenib Dosing and Outcomes in Hepatocellular Cancer IN A...
INVITED DISCUSSANT Paul Baas, MD, PhD, of The Netherlands Cancer Institute, called the MAPS2 trial an “excellent example of how studies in mesothelioma should be run.” As Dr. Baas pointed out, both arms performed well as second- and third-line treatment, with median progression-free survival with ...