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Showing 20401 - 20450Breast Cancer Care in the Era of Accountable Care Organizations
Prepare for big changes ahead, Lawrence N. Shulman, MD, Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Harvard Medical School in Boston, told oncologists at the 2013 Breast Cancer Symposium.1 One change is the emergence of...
Contemporary Studies Dispute Findings of Radiation-Induced Cardiotoxicity
At the 2013 Breast Cancer Symposium, studies suggested that with current radiotherapy techniques the mean radiation doses to the heart are much lower—and thus radiotherapy is presumably much safer—than findings suggested by an article published in The New England Journal of Medicine last spring.1...
Breast Cancer Radiotherapy and Cardiotoxicity: What Is the True Risk?
Evidence has long been accumulating that radiotherapy involving the heart can result in premature ischemic heart disease, but interest peaked last spring when a case control study published in The New England Journal of Medicine1 found an increased risk for cardiac-related deaths in breast cancer...
Front-Line Treatment Strategies to Achieve Long-Term Control of CLL Combined With Optimal Quality of Life
“The management of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is undergoing profound changes. Several new drugs have been approved for CLL treatment (fludarabine, bendamustine [Treanda], and the monoclonal antibodies alemtuzumab [Campath], rituximab [Rituxan], and ofatumumab [Arzerra]), and many more drugs ...
Calcium Channel Blockers Linked to Increased Risk of Lobular/Ductal Breast Cancer
Women who are currently using calcium channel blockers and have been doing so for 10 or more years are at increased risk of the two most common histologic types of breast cancer, invasive ductal carcinoma and invasive lobular carcinoma, according to a population-based case control study. “While...
Intralesional Cytokine Therapy in Cutaneous Melanoma: A Call for Clinical Trials
Cutaneous melanomas are mostly an immunogenic group of tumors, but they are also heterogeneous. Therefore, therapeutic specificity and autogenetic approaches are essential to secure beneficial results. The objective of sentinel lymph node biopsy, at the time of diagnosis, is to identify patients...
SIDEBAR: Expect Questions About Contralateral Prophylactic Mastectomy: Carefully Review Risks and Alternatives
Physicians were considered the most important source of information about contralateral prophylactic mastectomy in a survey of 123 women who were diagnosed with cancer in one breast and chose to have the contralateral procedure. While 80% of the women reported that they spoke with their physicians...
Better Risk Communication Strategies Needed to Ensure Decision to Have Contralateral Prophylactic Mastectomy Is Evidence-Based
Overestimating the risk that cancer in one breast will affect the other breast may cause many young women with breast cancer to choose contralateral prophylactic mastectomy even though most know it does not clearly improve survival. In a survey of 123 women who were diagnosed with cancer in one...
Association of Community Cancer Centers' 2013 Innovator Award Recipients Announced
Ten cancer programs that have developed pioneering solutions to address the challenges of treating cancer patients have received the Association of Community Cancer Centers’ (ACCC) 2013 Innovator Awards. Established in 2011, ACCC’s Innovator Awards are sponsored by GE Healthcare. The award...
Claudia I. Henschke, PhD, MD, Took a Circuitous Route to Her Groundbreaking Work in Lung Cancer Screening
“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.” —Leonardo da Vinci Lung cancer CT screening may have had no greater advocate than Claudia I. Henschke, PhD, MD. In the face of...
Lung Cancer Screening: Actionable Evidence
This recent paper in The New England Journal of Medicine outlines the details of the clinical outcomes with two incidence screens that were conducted as part of the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST).1 In the wake of the positive review of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) draft...
Innovation Impact Awards Support Efforts to Advance Blood Cancer Research Priorities and Lung Cancer Screening Adoption
Celgene Corporation recently announced the two recipients of Celgene’s inaugural Innovation Impact Awards: The Aplastic Anemia & Myelodysplastic Syndromes International Foundation (AA&MDSIF) and the Lung Cancer Alliance. The Innovation Impact Awards program recognizes effective, innovative, ...
Having Breast Cancer Has Actually Been a Positive Experience
I know it sounds strange, but being diagnosed with cancer was one of the best things to have happened to me. I don’t mean to diminish the traumatic experience of hearing the words, “You have breast cancer.” That was over 11 years ago, and I’m still reeling from the diagnosis and its aftereffects....
Cabozantinib in Medullary Thyroid Cancer: A Landscape-Shaping New Treatment
Medullary thyroid cancer is derived from parafollicular C cells in the thyroid gland. The disease is sporadic in about 75% of cases and hereditary in the remaining 25%.1 Oncogenic mutations in the gene for tyrosine kinase receptor rearranged during transfection (RET) are driver genetic alterations...
Cabozantinib Improves Disease-Free Survival in Progressive Medullary Thyroid Cancer
Cabozantinib (Cometriq) is an inhibitor of hepatocyte growth factor receptor (MET), vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2), and rearranged during transfection (RET) tyrosine kinases. In a phase III trial reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Rossella Elisei, MD, of University of ...
AACR Cancer Progress Report 2013 Highlights Critical Importance of Biomedical Research
On September 17, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) presented highlights of its 2013 Cancer Progress Report1 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. AACR Chief Executive Officer Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), opened the program with a double-edged message, first citing the...
'Master Protocol' Could Revolutionalize Trials in Lung Cancer, and Eventually Other Cancers
Cancer advocates and clinical trialists, for some time, have been proposing a radical change to the laborious drug development process—that industry, academia, funding sources, and other stakeholders actually pool their brain power and financial means and work together, not separately, to develop...
SIDEBAR: 2013 New Drug/Indication Approvals*
1. September 30, 2013: Pertuzumab (Perjeta) Accelerated approval in combination with trastuzumab and docetaxel for the neoadjuvant treatment of HER2-positive, locally advanced, inflammatory, or early-stage breast cancer. 2. September 6, 2013: Paclitaxel protein-bound particles (albumin-bound)...
A Look Ahead: How the FDA Is Adapting in the Era of Precision Medicine
Dubbed “Cancer Czar” by the media, Richard Pazdur, MD, Director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Hematology and Oncology Products, said he has the “best job in oncology, with a unique vantage point in cancer drug development.” An oncologist for more than 30 years—including...
ASCO President-Elect Candidate Julie M. Vose, MD, MBA, FASCO
Cost of Care and Federal Funding How can ASCO address the high cost of cancer care and diminishing federal resources for basic and translational research? We need to work with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, private insurers, and health-care systems to encourage evidence-based...
ASCO President-Elect Candidate Lynn M. Schuchter, MD, FASCO
Cost of Care and Federal Funding How can ASCO address the high cost of cancer care and diminishing federal resources for basic and translational research? In answer to the first part of this question, the rising cost of cancer care has certainly become a focus of national conversation given the...
The American Society of Hematology Elects New Leadership
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recently announced the election of three new members to its Executive Committee for terms beginning after the ASH Annual Meeting in December. Charles S. Abrams, MD, will serve a 1-year term as Vice President, followed by successive terms as President-Elect...
Penn Medicine Names D. Gary Gilliland, MD, PhD, First Leader of Precision Medicine
Dr. Gary Gilliland, MD, PhD, has been named the inaugural Vice Dean and Vice President for Precision Medicine, at Penn Medicine, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Dr. Gilliland is a cancer genetics expert and pioneer in the development of targeted therapies. “We are proud to be among the...
FDA Grants Volasertib Breakthrough Therapy Designation in AML
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc, has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to volasertib, an investigational inhibitor of polo-like kinase (Plk), which being evaluated for the treatment of patients aged 65 or older with...
ASCO Develops Educational Article Series on Research Funding
During this and the coming year, ASCO is ramping up its advocacy efforts in calling for increased federal funding to support clinical cancer trials. As part of an extensive effort to educate and mobilize its membership to call for a renewed national investment in federally funded cancer research,...
Zhe-Bin Liu, MD, PhD, of China Receives 2013 Long-Term International Fellowship in Breast Cancer
Zhe-Bin Liu, MD, PhD, of Shanghai Cancer Center, Fudan University, China, is the recipient of the 2013 Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO Long-Term International Fellowship (LIFe) in Breast Cancer, generously supported by The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The LIFe provides early-career...
ASCO Submits Comments on Numerous Federal Initiatives
ASCO helps shape the regulatory framework in which oncologists practice by reviewing and commenting on a wide range of rules, guidelines, and system changes issued by federal agencies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and...
Highlights on Quality Cancer Care for Patients
In advance of the 2013 Quality Care Symposium, ASCO released a second Top Five List in Oncology, as part of the ongoing Choosing Wisely® campaign that brings together the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation, ASCO, and other medical specialty organizations. Cancer.Net provides...
ASCO Teams Up with the GetWell Network to Provide More Patients With Education Resources
Through a new initiative and partnership with the GetWell Network, ASCO has begun to offer patient education content from its patient information website, Cancer.Net, to patients treated at hospitals within the GetWell Network community. The GetWell Network provides tools to hospitals to help...
International Cancer Corps Provides Valuable First-Time Volunteer Experience
Even as oncologists try to tackle the changing landscape of health care in the United States, many realize that both physicians and patients in this country are still in a better position than those fighting cancer abroad in low- and middle-income countries. In 2009, ASCO joined with Health...
Options for Management of Bone Health in Patients With Multiple Myeloma
Bone health is critical in patients with multiple myeloma, since up to 85% will suffer bone damage. Options for management include two FDA-approved bisphosphonates—pamidronate and zoledronic acid—and possibly the RANK-L inhibitor denosumab (Xgeva, investigational use). Importance of Supportive ...
Take-Home Messages From the NCCN Hematologic Malignancies Conference
As the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) 8th Annual Congress: Hematologic Malignancies was drawing to a close, The ASCO Post spoke with Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD, about the themes of the meeting and the take-home messages for attendees and for our readers. Dr. Zelenetz is Vice Chair...
Expert Point of View: Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD
In the past, we considered multiple myeloma the poor sibling among lymphoid malignancies. We have seen an amazing amount of change in this field, and Dr. Anderson and colleagues have contributed to that progress. But despite the progress, most patients still relapse,” noted Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD,...
New Strategies for Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma Explored
Although upfront therapy can achieve remission in multiple myeloma, most patients will ultimately relapse. Newer targeted therapies and genomic analysis are moving the management of relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma forward, according to Kenneth C. Anderson, MD, Director, Jerome Lipper Multiple...
The AVEX Trial
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Cunningham and colleagues and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, the AVEX trial was an open-label randomized phase III trial limited to patients over the age of 70 years with previously untreated, unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer who were not...
Bevacizumab/Capecitabine Improves Progression-Free Survival in Older Patients With Treatment-Naive Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
Elderly patients are often underrepresented in clinical trials of metastatic colorectal cancer. In the phase III AVEX trial reported in The Lancet Oncology,1 David Cunningham, MD, of Royal Marsden Hospital in London and colleagues assessed the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to capecitabine in...
Expert Point of View: Josep Tabernero, MD, PhD and Eric Van Cutsem, MD, PhD
At the European Cancer Congress (ECC), Josep Tabernero, MD, PhD, Head of the Medical Oncology Department at Vall d’Hebron University in Barcelona, Spain, noted that the ASPECCT study asks a “reasonable question about the efficacy and safety of the two clinically approved anti-EGFR antibodies” and...
Panitumumab vs Cetuximab in Chemorefractory Colorectal Cancer: Survival Benefits Comparable
For the treatment of wild-type KRAS metastatic colorectal cancer in previously treated patients, a head-to-head comparison of the two antibodies—cetuximab (Erbitux) and panitumumab (Vectibix)—that target the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) concluded that they convey similar overall survival ...
Expert Point of View: Alberto Sobrero, MD
Alberto Sobrero, MD, who discussed the VICTOR trial at the European Cancer Congress, said that at this point, adjuvant trials may be unethical, if the findings of multiple observational studies are to be trusted. Apparently, Dr. Sobrero is a believer: He introduced his remarks at the ECC session by ...
Aspirin Protects Against Colorectal Cancer Recurrence in PIK3CA-Mutant Tumors
At the 2013 European Cancer Congress, two investigative teams attempted to explain how aspirin may protect against colorectal cancer recurrences, with one study showing PIK3CA mutations associated with protection from aspirin, but not a COX-2 inhibitor, and the other study implicating HLA class I...
Program Co-Directors Highlight Abstracts of Interest for the Upcoming 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium
The Co-Directors of the 2013 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, which will be held December 10–14, 2013, have highlighted what they consider to be the most important abstracts to be presented at the Symposium. In a telebriefing in advance of the December meeting, C. Kent Osborne, MD,...
Expert Point of View: Steven J. O'Day, MD
This is a provocative and compelling study. I applaud Dr. Herman and his team. The take-home message was beautifully articulated,” said presscast moderator Steven J. O’Day, MD, Director of Clinical Research at the Beverly Hills Cancer Center and Adjunct Member of the John Wayne Cancer Institute in...
Women Undergoing Mammography Fail to Understand Breast Cancer Risk
More than 90% of women undergoing mammography screening could not give an accurate estimate of their personal risk of developing breast cancer, according to results of a large survey reported at the 2013 ASCO Breast Cancer Symposium and featured in a premeeting presscast. The survey showed that a...
Optimizing Anti-HER2 Treatment for Metastatic Breast Cancer in 2013
The good news about HER2-positive breast cancer is that recurrent disease is plummeting, owing to the impact of adjuvant trastuzumab [Herceptin]. Hopefully, first-line metastatic treatment is becoming a thing of the past,” said Harold Burstein, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston....
The Devastating Impact of Sequestration on Medical Research
The primacy of science and the overwhelming belief in medical research by the American people has sustained the research community and improved quality of life roughly since the turn of the 20th century. Almost without exception, the American people have voted for politicians who promise improved...
The Scientific Perils of Sequestration
We are just 7 months into the $1 trillion in automatic federal budget spending cuts known as sequestration, and the impact on scientists in all areas of research is already so great, some say its full effects may be irreversible. The ASCO Post recently interviewed ASCO President Clifford A. Hudis, ...
Expert Point of View: Paul Baas, MD, PhD
“It is very good to have a drug for patients who are smokers and former smokers. The antibody works in both adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, and is already very active in phase I with very few side effects. This is such impressive data that [perhaps] we could leap directly to a phase III ...
Novel Anti–PD-L1 Antibody Produces Durable Responses in Metastatic NSCLC, Smokers Included
The engineered monoclonal antibody MPDL3280A achieved encouraging and durable responses in a phase I study in metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in both smokers and nonsmokers, as well as in cancers of squamous and adenocarcinoma histology. Responses were more robust in smokers than...
FDA Approves Obinutuzumab for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved obinutuzumab (Gazyva) for use in combination with chlorambucil (Leukeran) to treat patients with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Obinutuzumab is the first drug with Breakthrough Therapy designation to receive FDA...
COMMENTARY: Choosing Wisely: Good Care With Efficiency
Is more care better care? It is often said, by Americans, that the United States has the best care in the world. However, there are many population-based statistics that do not support that humble opinion. We certainly spend more money than any other nation by far. In fact, we may spend more money ...
