As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Panagiotis A. Konstantinopoulos, MD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and colleagues, a U.S. Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network phase II trial has shown significantly prolonged progression-free survival with the addition of the ATR (ataxia...
On August 5, 2020, the antibody-drug conjugate belantamab mafodotin-blmf was granted accelerated approval for treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have received at least four prior therapies, including an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody, a proteasome inhibitor, ...
In a single-institution study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jee et al found that the receipt of cytotoxic chemotherapy within 35 days of COVID-19 diagnosis in patients with cancer was not associated with increased risk of severe or critical COVID-19. The investigators also...
A vaccine for COVID-19 is currently the Holy Grail, but even if an effective vaccine were developed on a fast-track timetable, it may be effective in only a percentage of people, judging by existing flu vaccines, which show efficacy rates of approximately 45% and vary year by year. Until we have a...
In a phase Ib trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Richard S. Finn, MD, and colleagues found that the combination of lenvatinib and pembrolizumab produced durable responses in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma who had received no prior systemic chemotherapy. As...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Kang et al, the Japanese-Korean phase III SOLAR trial showed that oral tegafur/gimeracil/oteracil, a combination known as S-1, plus leucovorin and oxaliplatin was associated with a modest but significant improvement in overall survival vs S-1 plus cisplatin in...
In a study reported in JAMA Surgery, Le Blanc et al found that Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act was associated with increased insurance coverage and reduction in rates of diagnosis of breast cancer at later stages. Study Details The study involved data from the National Cancer...
In a study reported as a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Scovell et al identified a potential association between the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors and impaired spermatogenesis using autopsy tissue findings in men with a history of metastatic melanoma. Study Details The study involved...
In a pooled analysis reported in Bone Marrow Transplantation,1 Luciano J. Costa, MD, PhD, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and colleagues found that autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation followed by reduced-intensity conditioning allogeneic transplantation (auto-allo) was...
On May 29, 2020, atezolizumab in combination with bevacizumab was approved for treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma who have not received prior systemic therapy.1-3 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings in the international, open-label,...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Richard S. Finn, MD, of Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues, the phase III IMbrave150 trial has shown that anti–programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) plus...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms of action, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On May 15, 2020, the receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor...
On May 8, 2020, olaparib was granted an expanded indication to include use in combination with bevacizumab for first-line maintenance treatment of adult patients with advanced epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer who are in complete or partial response to first-line...
In a retrospective study of registry data reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Mehta et al identified alternative donor sources for hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) that were associated with better graft-vs-host disease (GVHD)-free (GRFS) and chronic GVHD–free (CRFS) relapse-free...
In 1980, Paul G. Marks, MD, became the President and Chief Executive Officer of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), the oldest and largest private cancer center in the world. Over his 19-year reign, he is credited with setting MSK on a more scientific course by encouraging innovative...
On April 17, 2020, tucatinib was approved for use in combination with trastuzumab and capecitabine for treatment of adult patients with advanced unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer. These patients included those with brain metastases and those who have received one or more prior...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Richard S. Finn, MD, and colleagues, the phase III IMbrave150 trial has shown that anti–programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) plus anti-VEGF therapy with atezolizumab plus bevacizumab improved progression-free and overall survival vs sorafenib ...
In an article published in Science, Lawrence Corey, MD; John R. Mascola, MD; Anthony S. Fauci, MD; and Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, describe the composition and aims of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-led Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) partnership....
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Shi et al found that use of higher-than-currently-recommended severity thresholds for symptom alerts for patients receiving outpatient chemotherapy would result in failure to identify and treat many patients requiring clinical intervention for ...
In a phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jaume Capdevila, MD, and colleagues found that the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor spartalizumab produced responses in a cohort of patients with locally advanced or metastatic anaplastic thyroid carcinoma, with all...
On April 8, 2020, encorafenib was approved for use in combination with cetuximab for the treatment of previously treated adult patients with metastatic colorectal cancer with a BRAF V600E mutation detected by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved test.1,2 Encorafenib is not indicated...
The American Cancer Society (ACS) has approved funding for 79 research and training grants, totaling $36,165,100 in the first of two grant cycles for 2020. Grant applications were reviewed and approved remotely in light of the coronavirus epidemic. The grants will fund investigators at 59...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Isabelle Ray‑Coquard, MD, PhD, of the Centre Leon Berard, University Claude Bernard Lyon 1 and Groupe d’Investigateurs Nationaux pour l’Etude des Cancers Ovariens (GINECO), Paris, and colleagues, the phase III PAOLA-1 trial has shown a...
In a Japanese phase Ib/dose-expansion trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Fukuoka et al found that the combination of regorafenib and nivolumab showed activity in patients with previously treated gastric cancer and colorectal cancer with microsatellite stable/mismatch...
In a study (NCI-MATCH trial subprotocol, arm Z1D) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Nilofer S. Azad, MD, of Johns Hopkins Medicine Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer, and colleagues found that nivolumab was active in mismatch repair (MMR)-deficient noncolorectal cancers.1 As stated by...
As reported in JAMA Oncology by Jayant S. Vaidya, MBBS, PhD, and colleagues, the phase III TARGIT-A trial showed that delayed second-procedure targeted intraoperative radiotherapy (TARGIT-IORT) was not noninferior to whole-breast external-beam radiotherapy (EBRT) in preventing local recurrence of...
In an article published by Kutikov et al in Annals of Internal Medicine, practitioners from Fox Chase Cancer Center reviewed the challenges faced in cancer care during the COVID-19 crisis and suggested measures that may help to maintain standards of care while reducing risk of transmission as well...
In an Australian phase III trial (proPSMA) reported in The Lancet, Michael S. Hofman, MBBS, and colleagues found that gallium-68 prostate-specific membrane antigen-11 positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (PSMA PET/CT) provided greater accuracy in identifying nodal and distant metastases ...
In a correspondence published in The Lancet Oncology, Rishi S. Kotecha, MB, ChB, of the Government of Western Australia Department of Health, identified challenges in protecting children with cancer from COVID-19 infection and stressed that some measures proposed to protect adults with cancer may...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, and colleagues, long-term follow-up of patients with previously treated advanced programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1)-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the KEYNOTE-010 trial has shown a continued survival...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bhishamjit S. Chera, MD, and colleagues found that surveillance for circulating tumor human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA was accurate in identifying disease recurrence in patients with curatively treated HPV-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell ...
In a phase I study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Max S. Topp, MD, and colleagues found the maximum tolerated dose of the investigational anti–B cell maturation antigen (BCMA) bispecific T-cell engager (BiTE) molecule AMG 420 elicited a high response rate in patients with relapsed or ...
On December 20, 2019, the antibody-drug conjugate fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki was granted accelerated approval in the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer who have received two or more prior anti–HER2-based regimens in the metastatic setting.1,2...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hourigan et al found that reduced-intensity conditioning for allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation was associated with poorer outcomes vs myeloablative conditioning in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who had genomic...
Lack of insurance coverage is a major cause of delayed breast cancer screening and treatment among minority women, which could lead to a decrease in a patient’s chance of survival. Nearly half of the disparity in later-stage diagnosis between non-Hispanic white women and black, Hispanic, and...
In the phase II TOPARP-B trial—reported by Mateo et al in The Lancet Oncology—investigators found that olaparib showed activity in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and DNA damage response (DDR) gene aberrations who had received one or two prior taxane regimens. Study...
In an analysis reported in Annals of Oncology, Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that pembrolizumab was active in both KRAS-mutant and wild-type tumors in a subgroup of patients in the KEYNOTE-042 trial with programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1)-positive nonsquamous non–small cell lung...
Findings in the phase Ib KEYNOTE-013 and phase II KEYNOTE-170 trials, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Philippe Armand, MD, PhD, of DanaFarber Cancer Institute, and colleagues, indicate that pembrolizumab is active in relapsed or refractory primary mediastinal large B-cell...
In early 2019, pembrolizumab was approved for the adjuvant treatment of patients with melanoma with involvement of lymph node(s) following complete resection.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings in the double-blind EORTC 1325/KEYNOTE-054 trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier...
In a study (NCI-MATCH trial subprotocol, arm Z1D) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Azad et al found that nivolumab was active in mismatch repair–deficient noncolorectal cancers. As stated by the investigators, “The National Cancer Institute Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Richard S. Finn, MD, and colleagues, the phase III KEYNOTE-240 trial has shown no statistically significant progression-free or overall survival benefit with pembrolizumab vs placebo in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma who were...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sven Borchmann, MD, of the German Hodgkin Study Group, University Hospital of Cologne, and colleagues found that pretreatment vitamin D deficiency was associated with significantly poorer progression-free and overall survival in patients...
In a study presented in a brief report in JAMA Oncology,1 David J. Pinato, MD, PhD, of the Imperial College London, and colleagues found that past—but not concurrent—use of broad-spectrum antibiotic therapy was associated with poorer treatment outcomes in patients receiving immune checkpoint...
In late 2018, elotuzumab was approved for use in combination with pomalidomide and dexamethasone for the treatment of adult patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least two prior therapies, including lenalidomide and a proteasome inhibitor.1 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based ...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Penson et al developed a machine learning algorithmic classifier that may be successful in identifying tumor type and origin based on DNA-sequence data obtained at point of care. The study used machine learning to construct and train an algorithmic classifier...
The ESMO Congress continues to grow as a pivotal platform for research in clinical oncology. At the ESMO Congress 2019, important findings were showcased in more than 2,200 studies, including 93 late-breaking abstracts. The ASCO Post summarized much of that news in separate articles over several...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology,1Jonathan M. Loree, MD, of BC Cancer, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and colleagues found that race and race subgroup analyses were frequently not included in reported trials supporting U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oncology drug approvals...
In a study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Jackson et al found that postdiagnosis aspirin use was associated with significantly improved overall survival across biliary tract cancer types. Study Details The study involved 2,934 adult patients diagnosed with biliary tract cancer...
In a phase Ib/II pilot study reported in JAMA Oncology, Jameson et al found that treatment with nab-paclitaxel, gemcitabine, and cisplatin was active in patients with previously untreated metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Study Details In the study, 25 patients were enrolled between...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Menzer et al found that combined BRAF/MEK inhibitor therapy appeared to be more active than single-inhibitor therapy in advanced melanoma with rare BRAF mutations. Study Details The study involved data from 103 patients with advanced melanoma ...