Yousuf Zafar, MD, of Duke Cancer Institute, summarizes his educational lecture on the financial toxicities of treatment and the need to focus on both short- and long-term interventions to reduce the burden on patients.
Martin J. Van Den Bent, MD, PhD, of the Daniel den Hoed Cancer Center, discusses the interim analysis of the EORTC phase III study on concurrent and adjuvant temozolomide in anaplastic glioma without 1p/19q co-deletion (Abstract LBA2000).
John P. Neoptolemos, MD, PhD, of the University of Liverpool, discusses findings from this international phase III study of adjuvant combination chemotherapy: gemcitabine and capecitabine vs monotherapy gemcitabine in patients with resected pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (Abstract LBA4006).
Hope S. Rugo, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, discusses phase III study results on a new possible alternative to trastuzumab for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer: the biosimilar known as Myl-1401O (Abstract LBA503).
An innovative project launched in October 2015 may help expedite metastatic breast cancer genomics research and provide leads for development of new treatments. In the 7 months since the launch, more than 2,000 patients have enrolled in the research study designed to collect and...
Helen MacKay, MD, of the Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre, discusses findings from this phase II study of intraperitoneal vs intravenous chemotherapy following neoadjuvant chemotherapy and optimal debulking surgery in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (Abstract LBA5503).
A large-scale genomic analysis found that patterns of genetic changes detected in blood samples (liquid biopsy) closely mirror those identified in traditional tumor biopsy. With blood samples from more than 15,000 patients and 50 different tumor types, this is one of the largest cancer genomics...
Researchers reported encouraging early results from a phase II trial that matches patients with molecular abnormalities in the tumor to corresponding targeted treatments. Twenty-nine of 129 patients with 12 different types of advanced cancers responded to drugs outside of U.S. Food and Drug...
For a more in-depth look at these data, please click here. Patients with anaplastic glioma without 1p/19q codeletion benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy, according to early results from a European phase III trial. The estimated 5-year survival rates were 56% with radiation therapy and...
For a more in-depth look at these data, as well as commentary, click here. A European phase III trial, one of the largest ever conducted in pancreatic cancer, showed that adding the oral drug capecitabine chemotherapy to gemcitabine prolongs survival without increased toxicity. Adjuvant...
A biosimilar trastuzumab antibody (MYL-1401O) is comparable in efficacy and safety to trastuzumab (Herceptin) in women with HER2-positive advanced breast cancer, according to a randomized phase III study. The response rates were comparable among women who received trastuzumab and among...
For some women with advanced ovarian cancer that was successfully treated surgically, delivering chemotherapy intraperitoneally as well as intravenously appears more effective than intravenous chemotherapy alone. For women who were initially treated with chemotherapy prior to surgery, the ...
“Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finalized its efforts to streamline the process used by physicians to request expanded access, often called ‘compassionate use,’ to investigational drugs and biologics for their patients. As a physician, I understand the...
In an analysis of the Breast International Group (BIG) 1-98 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chirgwin et al found that poorer adherence to endocrine therapy was associated with poorer disease-free survival in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Cortes et al, the final 5-year results of the DASISION trial support the safety and efficacy of dasatinib (Sprycel) as first-line treatment in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in chronic phase. Initial results in the trial led to...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved the cobas EGFR Mutation Test v2, a blood-based companion diagnostic for the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor erlotinib (Tarceva). This is the first FDA-approved, blood-based genetic test that can detect EGFR gene mutations...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved Netspot, the first kit for the preparation of Ga-68 dotatate injection, a radioactive diagnostic agent for positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging. This radioactive probe will help locate tumors in adult and pediatric patients with...
A phase I study by Cloughesy et al published in Science Translational Medicine investigating the effectiveness of vocimagene amiretrorepvec (Toca 511), an experimental nonlytic, retroviral replicating vector that delivers cytosine deaminase to cancer cells, and an investigational...
Nearly 20% of women with ovarian cancer do not undergo surgery, despite it being a standard part of treatment recommendations, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The findings, which suggest that women may live four times longer with...
As reported by Hope S. Rugo, MD, of the University of California San Francisco Comprehensive Cancer Center, and colleagues in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, ASCO has released a clinical practice guideline on endocrine therapy for hormone receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer. The...
In a French retrospective study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Tougeron et al found that the addition of adjuvant oxaliplatin to fluoropyrimidine treatment improved disease-free survival in patients with stage III deficient mismatch repair colon cancer. Study Details...
Readmission rates after complex cancer operations tend to be higher in hospitals that are considered to be vulnerable because they serve as safety nets in their communities or have a high number of Medicaid patients. Reasons for higher readmission rates are highly complex and involve socioeconomic...
In a study using National Cancer Data Base data reported in The Lancet Oncology, Nussbaum et al found that preoperative and postoperative radiotherapy improved overall survival vs surgery alone in patients with retroperitoneal sarcoma. Study Details The study consisted of case-control, propensity ...
ASCO today published an updated framework for assessing the relative value of cancer therapies that have been compared in clinical trials. The framework, published by Schnipper et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, defines value as a combination of clinical benefit, side effects, and...
On May 27, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved fluciclovine F-18 (Axumin), a radioactive diagnostic agent for injection. Fluciclovine F-18 is indicated for positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging in men with suspected prostate cancer recurrence based on elevated...
A model developed to estimate the absolute risk of breast cancer suggests that a 30-year-old white woman in the United States has an 11.3% risk, on average, of developing invasive breast cancer by the age of 80, according to a new study published by Maas et al in JAMA Oncology. Breast cancer is a...
The International Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia–International Prognostic Index (CLL-IPI) working group has developed an IPI for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia based on a meta-analysis of individual patient data, as reported in The Lancet Oncology. Study Details The meta-analysis...
An analysis of the phase III adjuvant ALTTO trial showed that early rash was associated with better clinical outcome with lapatinib (Tykerb) treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer, as reported by Sonnenblick et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. It had been previously found that...
Among nearly 35,000 initially healthy women who were followed for about 20 years, those with new-onset atrial fibrillation had an increased risk of cancer, according to a study published by Conen et al in JAMA Cardiology. Atrial fibrillation, the most common cardiac arrhythmia, is associated with...
ASCO and its wholly owned subsidiary, Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) Certification Program, LLC (QCP), announced May 25 that The Doctors Company, the nation's largest physician-owned medical malpractice insurer, will recognize QOPI® Certification in its rate structure....
A new study shows the rate of colorectal cancer continues to increase in individuals under 50 years old, despite the fact that the overall rate of the disease has been declining in recent years. Following examination of more than 1 million colorectal cancer patient records over 10 years,...
A new study finds that patients who ate certain solid foods, considered “low residue,” were better prepared for their colonoscopies than individuals who followed the conventional liquid diet. Additionally, researchers saw that these patients who ate foods such as eggs, white bread,...
Black patients diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common liver cancer, had a 33% increased risk of death compared to non-Hispanic whites. They also were far less likely to receive lifesaving liver transplants, according to a new study presented by Jones et al at Digestive Disease...
An endoscopist's knowledge of a positive Cologuard test improves colonoscopy performance, according to a poster presentation by Johnson et al at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2016 (Abstract Su1044). Cologuard is an at-home, stool-DNA colorectal cancer screening test that has been approved by the...
On May 25, ASCO issued its first clinical practice guideline on invasive cervical cancer. This resource-stratified guideline is the first of its kind from ASCO, offering treatment recommendations tailored to resource availability. Access to cervical cancer care varies between regions of the...
Hurria et al validated a prediction tool for chemotherapy toxicity in cancer patients aged ≥ 65 years in an external cohort, according to a report in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The predictive model had been developed in a prior study in 500 patients. Study Details The study...
Play-based procedural preparation not only helps children cope with the stress and anxiety of radiation therapy, but can also help reduce the amount of sedation used and cut costs, according to a study from the Child Life Program at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The study was...
In a study reported in JAMA Internal Medicine, Moore et al found that greater leisure-time physical activity was associated with a reduced risk for many types of cancer. Study Details The study used pooled data on 1.44 million adults from 12 prospective U.S. and European cohorts with...
After serving as ASCO’s CEO for 10 years, Allen S. Lichter, MD, FASCO, is stepping down. Dr. Lichter, who has been an ASCO member since 1980, has served the Society in numerous capacities. Along with his distinguished career at ASCO, Dr. Lichter is a nationally recognized radiation oncologist,...
MAY Lymphoma: State-of-the-Art in Biology Therapy, and Patient CareMay 13-14 • New York, New YorkFor more information: msklymphoma2016.com NCI “Sandpit” on Individual and Contextual Factors of Population-Level Cancer ControlMay 16-18 • Montgomery County, MarylandFor more...
Nationally recognized surgical oncologist and researcher Suzanne L. Topalian, MD, had an early interest in the arts as well as science and decided to major in English upon entering Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. “I wanted to keep all my options open, so I also enrolled in a pre-med...
Leonard Saltz, MD, was born in New York, New York, and reared in Westchester County, in the suburbs of the City. Terrance Archer, his high-school biology teacher, whom Dr. Saltz described as a “force of nature,” a wonderful human being, and a major role model, influenced his nascent curiosity in...
The ASCO Post remembers the following specialists in oncology who passed away in 2015–2016. Please write to editor@ASCOPost.com to recognize and pay tribute to others in a future issue. Mark R. Green, MD January 3, 1945–February 23, 2015 “Few people have impacted cancer clinical research in the...
David A. Karnofsky, MD, dedicated himself to the pursuit of scientific excellence and the investigation of more effective therapies for cancer for nearly 30 years, from the time he was a resident at the Collis P. Huntington Memorial Hospital for Cancer Research of Harvard University, until his...
Carolyn Jean Presley, MD, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation clinical scholar in medical oncology at the Yale Cancer Center, was born in Duluth, Minnesota, which hugs the north shore of Lake Superior, making it one of the nation’s coldest cities during its long winters. She grew up the middle child...
Lisa A. Newman, MD, MPH, FACS, FASCO, Director of the Henry Ford Health System’s Breast Oncology Program, was born in New York, New York and, according to her, was blessed to have had parents who lived the African American version of the “American Dream.” Dr. Newman’s father was the son of...
A neighborhood doctor who told a good story was an unwitting mentor to internationally regarded lung cancer expert James L. Mulshine, MD. Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Dr. Mulshine relocated with his family to West Hartford, Connecticut, when he was a year old, and except for a brief hiatus on...
Nationally regarded children’s cancer specialist Stephen P. Hunger, MD, was born and reared in South Windsor, a small suburb of Hartford, Connecticut. Dr. Hunger grew up in the mid-1960s and 1970s, and in his words, “South Windsor was a pretty homogeneous experience. There wasn’t really any ethnic...
It is widely reported that the first use of sargramostim (Leukine) in humans (granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor; GM-CSF) was to treat victims of the Goiânia, Brazil, radiation accident in 1987. However, recently declassified documents show that sargramostim was first used a year...
Ronald Piana is an independent writer and reporter with more than 20 years of experience in oncology communications and publishing. In addition to the profiles published in this special supplemental issue of The ASCO Post, Ron has written more than 100 news and feature articles, interviews, and...