As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Heather Wakelee, MD, and colleagues, an interim analysis of the phase III KEYNOTE-671 trial showed that the addition of neoadjuvant pembrolizumab to cisplatin-based chemotherapy followed by adjuvant pembrolizumab improved pathologic response and ...
Medical oncologist Monica Chatwal, MD, of Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida, commented on the take-home points from the ARASENS trial. “The ARASENS trial continues to show a survival benefit for a triplet therapy approach in metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer with androgen-deprivation ...
The addition of the androgen receptor inhibitor darolutamide to androgen-deprivation therapy and docetaxel reduced the risk of death by 30% compared with androgen-deprivation therapy plus docetaxel in patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer, according to a post hoc analysis of...
The results of recent trials of PARP (poly [ADP-ribose] polymerase) inhibitor plus second-generation androgen receptor inhibitor combinations have had varying results in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Some trials suggest the benefit is confined to those with BRCA mutations and/or...
Presented here are summaries of three abstracts from the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting that are pertinent for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. The first two focus on men with homologous recombinant repair (HRR) gene alterations, including BRCA1/2. In the first study,...
The addition of cabozantinib to nivolumab plus ipilimumab prolonged progression-free survival in untreated intermediate-risk patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC), according to the first results of the phase III COSMIC-313 trial. These findings were presented as a Presidential Symposium ...
The 3-year follow-up of the phase III CheckMate 9ER trial demonstrates superior outcomes with the combination of nivolumab plus cabozantinib vs the former standard-of-care sunitinib as first-line treatment of advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma.1 These benefits were achieved with the...
At extended follow-up, lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab showed sustained superiority over sunitinib for overall and progression-free survival as first-line treatment for advanced renal cell carcinoma.1 The majority of the benefit was observed in intermediate- and poor-risk subgroups, according to the...
It is an exciting time in the development of new treatments for urologic cancers. There have been a number of major changes both in advanced disease and in the perioperative setting over the past year. Urothelial and Bladder Cancers In urothelial cancer, at last, we have randomized data supporting...
Insights on findings from the phase II MonumenTAL-1 trial1 were offered by Ajay K. Nooka, MD, MPH, Professor in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, and Medical Director of the Winship Data and Technology Applications Shared Resource, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University School ...
In the phase I/II MonumenTAL-1 trial, the novel bispecific antibody talquetamab produced responses in more than 70% of heavily pretreated patients with multiple myeloma.1 Of note, the safety profile confirmed results of the phase I portion of the study (recently published in TheNew England Journal...
Urvi A. Shah, MD, Assistant Attending at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Assistant Professor at Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, moderated the session where the MagnetisMM trial updates1,2 were reported and was interviewed by The ASCO Post. Elranatamab vs Teclistamab Dr. Shah noted...
The promise of bispecific monoclonal antibodies in multiple myeloma continues to heighten as yet another one appears to be active. In a study reported at the 2022 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition,1 almost two-thirds of patients with triple-refractory disease who...
Compared with the standard of care for relapsed multiple myeloma, a single infusion of ciltacabtagene autoleucel was associated with a significant 74% reduction in the risk of disease progression in patients with lenalidomide-refractory multiple myeloma after one to three relapses, the phase III...
In a phase II trial, treatment with the JAK2 inhibitor ruxolitinib resulted in clinical activity in two-thirds of patients with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) with splenomegaly or an otherwise high disease symptom burden. The magnitude of symptomatic benefit was similar to that observed in...
The next-generation Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor zanubrutinib demonstrated superior progression-free survival compared with ibrutinib, with an improved cardiac safety profile, in the first head-to-head comparison between these two BTK inhibitors in relapsed or refractory chronic...
“Pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the paradigmatic success story in hematology,” said Joseph C. Alvarnas, MD, Professor in the Department of Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplant, Vice President of Government Affairs, and Chief Clinical Advisor for AccessHope at City of Hope...
The standard of care could be changing for adults with newly diagnosed BCR-ABL–negative B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who achieve measurable residual disease (MRD) negativity after induction chemotherapy. In the phase III E1910 trial by the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group, an...
Catherine S. Diefenbach, MD, Associate Professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Director of the Clinical Lymphoma Program, and Director of Hematology Translational Research at Perlmutter Cancer Center, in New York, called the findings from the TRANSFORM trial “very striking.” “This study...
New research has confirmed the superiority of lisocabtagene maraleucel over the standard of care for the second-line treatment of primary refractory or early relapsed large B-cell lymphoma, according to data presented by lead study author Jeremy S. Abramson, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at...
Zanubrutinib—a next-generation Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor—achieved high response rates and durable disease control with a low incidence of cardiac effects in patients with relapsed or refractory marginal zone lymphoma, according to updated findings from the final analysis of the phase ...
The addition of nivolumab, an immune checkpoint inhibitor, to chemotherapy significantly improved progression-free survival in adults and children with advanced classical Hodgkin lymphoma with reduced toxicity compared with standard-of-care brentuximab vedotin plus chemotherapy, according to the...
The past several months have brought significant advances within the field of hematologic oncology. Here we will review some key updates focusing on pivotal clinical trials and new drug approvals. Advances in Lymphoma Presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting, SWOG S1826 compared nivolumab plus...
In an analysis from the UK Biobank Accelerometry Study reported in JAMA Oncology, Stamatakis et al found that bouts of vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity were associated with reduced risk of cancer among nonexercising adults. Vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity refers...
In a Chinese study (CCLG-AML 2015) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Li et al found that homoharringtonine (HHT)-based induction therapy was associated with promising outcomes in pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML). As stated by the investigators, “HHT is commonly used for the...
Penile squamous cell carcinoma is a rare type of penile cancer with limited treatment options. An international study has found that the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors may offer clinical benefits for some patients with advanced penile squamous cell carcinoma. These findings were published by...
On August 11, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the fixed-dose combination of niraparib and abiraterone acetate (Akeega), with prednisone, for adult patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious BRCA-mutated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, as determined by...
In a single-institution study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Kooshesh et al found that adults who had undergone thymectomy may be at an increased risk of death; cancer; and, in certain cases, autoimmune disease. As stated by the investigators: “The function of the thymus in human...
The members of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) recently elected three new officers to ASTRO’s Board of Directors: Sameer Keole, MD, FASTRO, as President-Elect; Wendy Woodward, MD, PhD, FASTRO, as Science Council Vice Chair; and Vivek S. Kavadi, MD, MBA, FASTRO, as Health Policy...
I knew the moment my fingers found a lump in my left breast, in 2018, that it was cancer, and I wondered if I was going to die. My maternal grandmother had been diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 39, the same age I was when I discovered the mass in my breast. She died 5 years later. Divorced ...
Susan M. Love, MD, MBA, a renowned surgeon, author, researcher, and patient advocate who dedicated her life’s work to breast cancer care, died on July 2, 2023, at her home in Los Angeles. The cause of death was recurrent leukemia. She was 75. Born in Long Branch, New Jersey, on February 9, 1948,...
A machine-learning model found that background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) on breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may be an indicator of breast cancer risk in patients with extremely dense breasts, according to a study published by Wang et al in Radiology. Patients with extremely dense...
A new World Economic Forum report released June 26, 2023, highlights the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in health care and the importance of public-private collaboration in driving its global adoption.1 The report—“Scaling Smart Solutions With AI in Health: Unlocking...
On July 7, 2023, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Labor, and the Treasury Department issued a proposed rule regulating the availability of short-term limited duration insurance plans. The rule would restrict the availability of these plans to no more than 4 months....
ASCO has been awarded $11 million in research funding by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to study dosing strategies of oral CDK4/6 inhibitors in older adults living with metastatic breast cancer. The study aims to address a critical evidence gap in the treatment of this...
On June 20, 2023, the PARP inhibitor talazoparib was approved for use with enzalutamide in homologous recombination repair (HRR) gene–mutated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.1 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings in the multicohort, double-blind TALAPRO-2 trial...
Formal discussant Daniel G. Stover, MD, of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, said the SONIA and PALMIRA trials raised several questions. Can CDK4/6 inhibitors be personalized and differentiated? Can patients delay treatment with these agents? Should all patients receive a...
Two studies presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting challenge the use of CDK4/6 inhibitors as part of upfront treatment of advanced hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. The first, the SONIA trial, found that first-line treatment with CDK4/6 inhibitors led to greater toxicity...
Preparing and running a medical conference is usually a complex but rewarding mission. It is a demanding job that is typically done voluntarily by physicians and educators who are dedicated to professional and community service; advancement of research and education; as well as the dissemination of ...
As we detailed in our Special Report “Surviving, but Not Always Thriving, After Cancer,” in the May 25, 2023, issue of The ASCO Post, the combination of advances in more effective therapies to treat cancer, gains in early detection, and sharp declines in tobacco use have led to a staggering 33%...
The probability of obtaining a HER2-low test result increases with the number of biopsies performed, according to a study of more than 500 biopsy samples in patients with triple-negative breast cancer. For patients originally labeled as having no HER2 expression (HER2 0), each successive biopsy...
Chronic exposure to fine particulate air pollutants (PM2.5, particulate matter 2.5 µm in diameter) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) may increase non-lung cancer risk in older adults, according to a study published by Yaguang et al in Environmental Epidemiology. In a cohort study of millions of Medicare...
In a new study published by Hyuna Sung, PhD, and colleagues in JAMA Network Open, non-Hispanic Black individuals diagnosed with a second primary cancer experienced 21% higher cancer-related death rates and 41% higher cardiovascular-related death rates compared with non-Hispanic White individuals;...
In a systematic review and meta-analysis reported in The Lancet Oncology, Ehrlich et al estimated rates of treatment-related mortality among children with cancer in low- and middle-income countries. According to the study authors, approximately 90% of children with cancer globally live in these...
Cancer research centers conducting clinical trials could potentially enroll more patients from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups by placing a greater emphasis on relieving investigators of the costs of translating consent documents into languages other than English, according to a study...
A study covering the northeast region of Colombia found nearly 12% of patients with a high body mass index (BMI) being treated for breast cancer at a regional center experienced cardiotoxicity during chemotherapy. The study will be presented at the upcoming American College of Cardiology Latin...
In a retrospective study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Elizabeth A. Raetz, MD, and colleagues found that outcomes in children and young adults with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who do not achieve remission at the end of induction therapy have improved in contemporary...
Presented here are summaries of three abstracts from the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting that are pertinent for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. The first two focus on men with homologous recombinant repair (HRR) gene alterations, including BRCA1/2. In the first study,...
In a retrospective study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Swinton et al found that bladder-sparing trimodal therapy with radical-dose radiotherapy was an effective alternative to radical cystectomy in patients with clinically node-positive nonmetastatic bladder cancer. As stated by the ...
Investigators have found that monthly U.S. adult cancer diagnoses decreased by 50% early in April 2020 and that the largest decreases were observed for stage I tumors, resulting in a higher proportion of late-stage cancer diagnoses, according to a recent study published by Han et al in The Lancet...