For the first time, five health-care provider organizations are partnering to conduct a survey to better understand the specific roles and responsibilities that advanced practice providers have on the cancer care team. The survey is a joint effort by ASCO; the Advanced Practitioner Society for...
Women Who Conquer Cancer is a group dedicated to advancing cancer research by supporting young women researchers early in their careers through the Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO Young Investigator Awards. These 1-year grants give promising researchers the boost they need to get started on the...
Earlier this year, ASCO submitted comments to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in response to a Request for Information on data-sharing and management (NOT-OD-17-015). In the comment letter, ASCO expressed support for the NIH’s efforts to develop a framework and strategies for data-sharing ...
Jose Leis, MD, PhD, of the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, commented on the promise of checkpoint inhibitors in Richter transformation. “At Mayo, we have treated more than 30 patients with programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) blockade. We do see that chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) has low expression ...
Despite advances in treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the 5% to 10% of patients who develop Richter transformation continue to have poor outcomes. For these patients, median progression-free survival is approximately 6 months, and median overall survival is about 8 months. Phase II...
William Breitbart, MD, has been honored with the 2017 American Cancer Society Trish Greene Quality of Life Award, a prestigious national honor that recognizes an outstanding individual who dedicates a significant portion of his or her career to research that improves the quality of life for cancer ...
The traditional three-phase clinical trial process for testing new drugs does not necessarily make sense when it comes to targeted therapies, according to many experts, including regulators, academic researchers, industry chief executive officers, and patient advocates alike. Instead of three...
On February 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded the existing indication for lenalidomide (Revlimid) 10 mg capsules to include use for patients with multiple myeloma as maintenance therapy following autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant. The expanded indication makes...
Innovation in precision medicine has introduced an amalgam of testing options, of which hereditary cancer panels—multigene tests—are a major component. Additionally, the importance of inherited cancer genomics was further bolstered by former President Barack Obama’s Precision...
In a Chinese phase III trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Zhang et al found that adding the epothilone analog utidelone to capecitabine prolonged progression-free survival in women with heavily pretreated metastatic breast cancer refractory to both anthracycline and taxane treatment. Study...
In a phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Scott et al found that myeloablative conditioning for allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation was associated with a reduced risk of relapse and a nonsignificant overall survival advantage vs reduced-intensity conditioning in...
This CE/CME/CU-accredited supplement is jointly provided by: To earn credit/contact hours, you must read all the articles in this supplement and then go to https://education.annenberg.net/IASLC Release date: February 25, 2017 Expiration date: February 25, 2018Annenberg Center for Health...
Patients with advanced malignant soft-tissue sarcoma of the extremities have typically faced amputation of the afflicted limb as the only treatment option. However, a technique that limits the application of chemotherapy to the cancerous region can preserve limbs in a high percentage of these...
Women with early-stage breast cancer who had an intermediate risk recurrence score from a 21-gene expression assay had similar outcomes, regardless of whether they received chemotherapy, a new study from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer finds. The research, published by Barcenas et al in ...
Sumanta K. Pal, MD, of the City of Hope, summarizes a session he co-chaired on the opportunities and challenges in systemic therapy for advanced renal cancer, including imaging as a biomarker of response and optimal selection of front-line treatments. (General Session 9)
Rana R. McKay, MD, of the University of California, San Diego, discusses study findings on PD-1/PD-L1 responders with metastatic renal cell carcinoma who discontinue therapy for immune-related adverse events. (Abstract 467)
George J. Bosl, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Karim Fizazi, MD, PhD, of Gustave Roussy and the University of Paris Sud, offer the “pro” and “con” viewpoints for treatment intensification in patients with poor-prognosis germ cell tumors with unfavorable marker decline.
A large population-based study suggests that the utility of particular types of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) to predict colorectal cancer survival depends on where the tumor originates in the body. Although prior research has shown an association between high TIL density and longer...
Researchers have found a link between microbes in the gut (the microbiome) and response to immunotherapy. In the study, the ability of patients with advanced melanoma to respond to programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) immune checkpoint inhibitors depended on the presence of a diverse microbiome...
Although cancer is a leading cause of death among Hispanics, the burden of cancer mortality within Hispanic groups has not been well quantified. Now, a study by Pinheiro et al comparing the differences among Hispanic populations and cancer incidence has found that cancer mortality varies...
On February 17, positive results were announced from the phase III OlympiAD trial comparing olaparib (Lynparza) tablets to physician’s choice of a standard-of-care chemotherapy in the treatment of patients with HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer harboring germline BRCA1 or BRCA2...
Results from the phase II IMmotion150 study that compared atezolizumab (Tecentriq) plus bevacizumab (Avastin) and atezolizumab monotherapy to sunitinib (Sutent) alone in patients with previously untreated, locally advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma were presented at the 2017 Genitourinary...
At the 2017 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, Powles et al presented updated efficacy and safety data for durvalumab in patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer (Abstract 286). Updated results from the phase I/II trial showed an objective response rate of 20.4% in all...
In a post hoc analysis of the UK ACT II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Glynne-Jones et al found that the best time to assess for complete response to chemoradiotherapy in patients with anal squamous cell carcinoma is at approximately 26 weeks from the start of treatment. In the ACT II...
A “secret shopper” study reported by Zafar et al in the Journal of Oncology Practice found that transparency of industry-sponsored oncology patient assistance programs varied among programs. Study Details The study involved accessing pharmaceutical manufacturer–sponsored patient ...
The traditional three-phase clinical trial process for testing new drugs does not necessarily make sense when it comes to targeted therapies, according to many experts, including regulators, academic researchers, industry chief executive officers, and patient advocates alike. Instead of three...
Researchers from the School of Health Sciences at the University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom, have completed the first-ever systematic review of cancer survivors’ experience of online and telephone telehealth interventions in cancer care, according to a recent study reported by Anna Cox,...
According to Michael Boyer, MD, a medical oncologist at the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse in Sydney, Australia, the development of testing for programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) has been complex. Efforts at harmonization have been made, but most laboratories actually use a single...
Programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression assessed by immunohistochemistry in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor tissues is currently the main predictive biomarker for the benefit of anti–programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and anti–PD-L1 agents in patients with non–small cell lung ...
A revised tumor classification based on 70,967 evaluable patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and 6,189 patients with small cell lung cancer is now available to lung cancer specialists around the world in the form of the 8th edition of the tumor, node, and metastasis (TNM)...
The two main classes of immune checkpoint inhibitors used to treat non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have essentially the same efficacy and toxicity profiles, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis of 23 trials with a total of 5,899 patients.1 Results showed that about one-fifth of...
The KEYNOTE-028 results confirm that pembrolizumab (Keytruda) is active in extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and lay to rest safety concerns stemming from the higher risk of paraneoplastic syndromes in this disease, according to invited discussant, Leora Horn, MD, MSc, Clinical...
The programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) has shown durable antitumor activity in patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC) that expresses programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1), according to an update of the KEYNOTE-028 trial.1 “Median overall ...
Edward Garon, MD, a member of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and Associate Professor of Hematology and Oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine, has received a 5-year, $3.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to...
Increasing experience with immunotherapy for lung cancer in both the lab and the clinic is helping to refine treatment approaches and point the way forward, according to Naiyer Rizvi, MD, Director of both Thoracic Oncology and Immunotherapeutics at Columbia University Medical Center in New York....
Elisabeth Heath, MD, FACP, of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University School of Medicine, has been appointed Associate Center Director for Transitional Sciences, effective immediately. She will report to Gerold Bepler, MD, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of...
David Norris, MD, Chairman of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, has become the new President of the American Skin Association (ASA). Dr. Norris will be taking over for Philip Prioleau, MD, who has held the position since 2014. Prior to Dr. Prioleau’s...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) announced that Justin Taylor, MD, and Roger Belizaire, MD, PhD, have been selected to participate in the American Society of Hematology–Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program (ASH-AMFDP). Designed to increase the number of underrepresented...
Here are several abstracts selected from the proceedings of this year’s American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, highlighting newer therapeutics in high-grade, aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs), including newly diagnosed as well as relapsed or refractory...
On January 19, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ibrutinib (Imbruvica) for the treatment of patients with marginal zone lymphoma who require systemic therapy and have received at least one prior anti–CD20-based therapy. Accelerated approval was granted for this indication based...
The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) offers state-of-the-art information on all aspects of breast cancer biology, diagnosis, and treatment, drawing an international audience of more than 7,500 physicians, researchers, and other health-care professionals from over 90 countries. Through...
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies focused on immunotherapy in lung cancer. All of the studies are listed on the National Institutes of Health website at ClinicalTrials.gov. Study Title: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Phase...
Understanding, anticipating, and managing the toxicities associated with immunotherapies for lung cancer are key to steps to safely using and achieving the most benefit from these new agents, according to Beth Eaby-Sandy, MSN, CRNP, OCN, a nurse practitioner at the University of Pennsylvania’s...
Philip Poortmans, MD, PhD, President-Elect of the European CanCer Organisation (ECCO) and Head of the Radiation Oncology Department at Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, commented: “This research provides good evidence for the benefits of treating advanced-stage head...
Treating patients with head and neck cancer with hyperfractionated twice-daily radiation therapy combined with chemotherapy may potentially reduce mortality, according to new research presented by Claire Petit, PhD, and colleagues at the 2017 European Cancer Congress (ECCO).1 The study included...
“The progression-free and overall survival curves of CheckMate 057 suggest the presence of two patient populations with respect to nivolumab (Opdivo): a relatively sensitive one and a less sensitive, possibly even resistant, one, according to invited discussant Paul Mitchell, MD, Associate...
Prognostic factors and tumor expression of programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) predict early mortality among patients with previously treated nonsquamous advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who receive nivolumab instead of docetaxel. But these features are not reliable for excluding...
“The KEYNOTE-010 updated survival is looking even more impressive with the benefit of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) over docetaxel. Survival at 2 years with pembrolizumab is more than double that with chemotherapy,” commented invited discussant, Paul Mitchell, MD, Associate Professor at the Olivia...
Pembrolizumab’s benefit in previously treated advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that expresses programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) is long lasting, persisting even after therapy ends, suggests an update of the KEYNOTE-010 trial.1 Initial results of the randomized phase II/III trial,...
“Taken together, ATLANTIC’s findings show that “durvalumab is active in heavily pretreated patients, and its degree of activity is related to programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression,” commented invited discussant, Michael Boyer, MBBS, PhD, Chief Clinical Officer and Conjoint Chair of...