Sarcoma therapy is a challenge for oncologists. Soft-tissue sarcomas encompass more than 50 different histologies, resulting in limited familiarity of management for many treating physicians. In addition, there have been few available effective therapies. The phase III trial of eribulin (Halavan) ...
In a phase III trial reported in The Lancet, Patrick Schöffski, MD, of University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven Cancer Institute, Belgium, and colleagues found that eribulin (Halaven) improved overall survival vs dacarbazine in patients with advanced or metastatic soft-tissue sarcoma who had received...
A new study of the relationship between physical activity and cancer has shown that greater levels of leisure-time physical activity were associated with a lower risk of developing 13 different types of cancer. The risk of developing seven cancer types was 20%, or more, lower among the...
On May 13, 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved lenvatinib capsules (Lenvima) in combination with everolimus (Afinitor) for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma following one prior antiangiogenic therapy. Lenvatinib was first approved in 2015 for the treatment of...
The recent study by Rosenberg et al in The Lancet—summarized in this issue of The ASCO Post—is a very important paper in the field of bladder cancer therapy.1 It is the first phase II trial in metastatic transitional cell carcinoma that demonstrates the single-agent activity of the...
In a phase II trial reported in The Lancet, Jonathan E. Rosenberg, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and colleagues found that the anti–PD-L1 (programmed cell death ligand 1) antibody atezolizumab produced durable responses in a marked proportion of patients with previously treated...
The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) have announced the 2016 Heine H. Hansen (HHH) Award recipient: Suresh Senan, MRCP, FRCR, PhD. The award was presented at the European Lung Cancer Conference (ELCC) 2016, held on...
Al B. Benson III, MD, Associate Director for Cooperative Groups at the Lurie Cancer Center, has been elected President of the National Patient Advocate Foundation’s (NPAF) Executive Board. An oncologist and Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the Feinberg School of...
Renal cell carcinoma is the most common cancer of the kidneys. Up to 30% of patients present with advanced/metastatic disease, and recurrence can develop in patients at high risk treated by nephrectomy for localized tumors. Renal cell carcinoma is notoriously resistant to chemotherapy and...
In the phase III ECOG-ACRIN E2805 trial reported in The Lancet by Naomi B. Haas, MD, of Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues, no benefit of adjuvant vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) inhibitor treatment with sunitinib or sorafenib (Nexavar) was...
I like economies of scale, and thus it makes perfect sense that ASCO has set a formal process to allow potential endorsement of selected guidelines from other organizations, rather than redoing the whole process. Recently, we have seen the publication of a formal endorsement of the European...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Matthew I. Milowsky, MD, of the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and colleagues,1 ASCO has endorsed the European Association of Urology clinical practice guideline on muscle-invasive and metastatic bladder...
Next month, more than 30,000 oncology professionals will gather in Chicago for the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting. This year’s theme, “Collective Wisdom: The Future of Patient-Centered Care and Research,” highlights the value of the combined knowledge of the global oncology community, spanning across...
Join the discussion: Use #ASCO16 on Twitter to follow and participate in the conversation around the Annual Meeting in real time! During last year’s Annual Meeting, more than 12,400 individuals sent over 59,000 tweets, reaching an estimated 262 million people on Twitter. Tweets about the Meeting ...
On Monday, April 11, ASCO released a policy statement calling on member oncologists to help lead a push for all adolescents and young adults to be vaccinated against cervical and other cancer. Use of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines should be rapidly expanded to protect thousands of young...
In the phase III GERCOR LAP07 trial reported by Pascal Hammel, MD, of Beaujon Hospital, Clichy, France, and colleagues in JAMA, there was no survival benefit of chemoradiotherapy vs continued chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer controlled after 4 months of gemcitabine...
Neratinib is an oral anti-HER2 tyrosine kinase inhibitor that has shown promising activity in the treatment of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.1 It differs from monoclonal antibodies such as trastuzumab (Herceptin) because, as a small molecule, neratinib blocks the ATP binding site on the...
In the phase III ExteNET trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Arlene Chan, MD, of the Breast Cancer Research Centre-Western Australia, Perth, and colleagues found that 1 year of treatment with the HER1, HER2, and HER4 tyrosine kinase inhibitor neratinib improved invasive disease–free survival...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Check et al identified disparities in supportive medication use and end-of-life care between black and white Medicare patients with stage IV breast cancer. Study Details The study involved SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End...
Lifang Hou, MD, PhD, has been appointed Director of Global Health for the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. Dr. Hou brings her extensive experience in identifying risk factors and molecular biomarkers predictive of cancer risk and mortality, her interest in...
Andrew Bindman, MD, a primary care physician with federal and state health policy experience who has practiced, taught, and conducted health services research at San Francisco General Hospital, has been named the new Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Dr. Bindman...
According to a new survey of more than 1,500 consumers and nearly 600 physicians conducted on behalf of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), only 35% of Americans indicated that they were “likely” to enroll in a clinical trial. Other studies have shown that only 4% of cancer...
Overweight colorectal cancer patients were 55% less likely to die from their cancer than normal-weight patients who have the disease, according to a new Kaiser Permanente study published by Kroenke et al in JAMA Oncology. Of cancers affecting both men and women, colorectal cancer is the...
Three and a half years ago, Oliver Bogler, PhD, a cancer biologist and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, saw his personal and professional worlds collide. He received a cancer diagnosis—one that mirrored his wife’s. “Some might say that ...
The “collateral damage” of cancer treatment is a topic that is familiar to Susan Love, MD, MBA. As a breast cancer surgeon and chief visionary officer of Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation, she has learned much about the consequences of cancer treatment. But she came by an important aspect of her...
Mahmoud El-Tamer, MD, a breast surgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, who moderated the session where the results were presented, pointed out that although the results were provocative, the selection of patients was “biased,” as they had already presented to a breast surgery...
Half of the young women presenting to an academic surgical breast practice would qualify for mammography screening starting at age 40. According to the newly updated guidelines, these young at-risk women may be missed, researchers reported at the 2016 American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBS)...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) met April 12 to consider a New Drug Application by Clovis Oncology for rociletinib, an investigational therapy for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in patients...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is continuing its efforts to expedite oncology-hematology drug approvals. As of May 15, 2016, FDA has approved the following agents since January of this year. Lenvatinib (Lenvima), in combination with everolimus (Afinitor), for the treatment of advanced ...
�� The Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (FASCO) distinction recognizes ASCO members for their extraordinary volunteer service, dedication, and commitment to ASCO. Their efforts benefit ASCO, the specialty of oncology, and, most importantly, patients with cancer. The 2016...
On April 11, 2016, venetoclax (Venclexta) was approved for treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) with 17p deletion, as detected by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved test, who have received at least one prior therapy.1,2 The accelerated approval was based...
Earlier this month, AstraZeneca announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug designation for the investigational MEK1/2 inhibitor selumetinib for adjuvant treatment of patients with stage III or IV differentiated thyroid cancer. Selumetinib inhibits the MEK...
In the fall of 2015, Vice President Joe Biden called for a “moonshot” to cure cancer. In his final State of the Union Address on January 12, 2016, President Barack Obama reemphasized that goal, stating, “Let’s make America the country that cures cancer once and for all.” To achieve that goal, the...
William J. Gradishar, MD, FACP, has been appointed Deputy Director for the Clinical Network of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center Network of Northwestern University. In this new role, Dr. Gradishar will oversee the coordination of clinical cancer services within Lurie Cancer Center’s...
Relatives of patients with carcinoma of unknown primary are at increased risk of developing this type of cancer themselves and several other malignant neoplasms, including lung, pancreatic, and colon cancers; non-Hodgkin lymphoma; and myeloma, according to a study published in JAMA Oncology. “Some...
Elderly men had a significant increase in the risk of noncancer hospitalizations following the diagnosis of prostate cancer, according to a population-based retrospective cohort study conducted by Amit D. Raval, PhD, and colleagues at West Virginia University, Morgantown. Results were published in...
“There are a lot of myths around new and emerging tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, and unfortunately, the biggest misconception is that these products are fairly or entirely harmless and risk-free,” Alexander V. Prokhorov, MD, PhD, said in an interview with The ASCO Post about a new...
“These gene fusions that drive malignant processes in certain cancers are good targets for cancer therapy. These targets can be potentially disabled [by targeted therapy],” said Louis M. Weiner, MD, Director of the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, DC, who moderated a ...
Entrectinib, a potent investigational tyrosine kinase inhibitor, exhibited promising clinical activity in a pooled analysis of two phase I trials of patients with solid metastatic tumors that harbored any of five specific genetic rearrangements involving NTRK1, NTRK2, NTRK3, ROS1, or ALK....
A new rule extending U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversight to all tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), and banning the sale of these products to anyone under the age of 181 was hailed as a major advanced by many leaders of medical and health organizations....
“This was a difficult study to conduct. It required 13 centers in 8 countries over 3 years to recruit these patients—that’s about 1 patient per site per year,” said Mayer Fishman, MD, PhD, of Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida. “It’s an important study, because these patients are typically...
Crizotinib (Xalkori) achieved overall and durable responses in advanced inoperable papillary renal cell carcinoma type 1 characterized by somatic MET mutations, according to an investigator-initiated trial conducted by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC).1 “To...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has announced its 11 newly elected Fellows of the AACR Academy. The AACR Academy serves to recognize and honor distinguished scientists whose major scientific contributions have propelled significant innovation and progress against cancer. All...
The following essay by Maurie Markman, MD, is adapted from The Big Casino: America’s Best Cancer Doctors Share Their Most Powerful Stories, which was coedited by Stan Winokur, MD, and Vincent Coppola and published in May 2014. The book is available on Amazon.com and thebigcasino.org. What’s...
This year’s Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) featured outstanding research in the field of cancer, as well as an inspiring talk by Vice President Joe Biden (see the May 10 issue of The ASCO Post). Here are some summaries of studies that warrant attention; they...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On April 25, 2016, a tablet formulation of cabozantinib...
Combined hepatocellular carcinoma–cholangiocarcinoma is a histopathologically distinct tumor for which no formal treatment guidelines exist. It is also a malignancy that is being diagnosed more often, according to researchers from Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, who reported...
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the “Art of Oncology” as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO). These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...
Integrative Oncology is guest edited by Barrie R. Cassileth, MS, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York. Regular physical activity has long been associated with decreased risk of disease, including many types of cancer. Such benefits may translate into increased life expectancy...
A sizable portion of patients with advanced cancer lack an understanding of their prognosis and impending death, according to a study by Epstein et al. However, those patients who had recent discussions of prognosis/life expectancy with their oncologists had a better understanding of the terminal...