The invited discussant of the RATIONALE 208 trial, Chris Verslype, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine at University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium, said tislelizumab is an “active and safe” investigational PD-1 antibody, “comparable to other PD-1 agents.” In particular, he noted, the results of RATIONALE...
With the investigational checkpoint inhibitor tislelizumab, durable responses were achieved by some patients with previously treated advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, regardless of the number of prior lines of therapy, in the phase II RATIONALE 208 trial. These findings were presented during the...
Nilofer Azad, MD, Professor of Oncology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Co-Director of Cancer Genetics and Epigenetics at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, was invited to discuss the results of the phase III TOPAZ-1 study, which found an overall survival...
For the first time, a phase III study has shown an overall survival benefit for upfront treatment using immunotherapy plus chemotherapy in advanced biliary tract cancer. In the TOPAZ-1 trial, the addition of the anti–PD-L1 agent durvalumab to gemcitabine plus cisplatin significantly improved...
As reported in JAMA Oncology by Andrew X. Zhu, MD, PhD, and colleagues, the final overall survival analysis of the pivotal phase III ClarIDHy trial showed prolonged overall survival with ivosidenib vs placebo in previously treated patients with unresectable or metastatic cholangiocarcinoma and an...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Ronan J. Kelly, MB BCh, MBA, of The Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center at Baylor University Medical Center, and colleagues, an interim analysis of the phase III CheckMate 577 trial has shown a significant improvement in disease-free survival with ...
Gabriel A. Brooks, MPH, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, was invited to discuss the results of the ACCENT/IDEA database analysis of early treatment discontinuation in stage III colon cancer. Although the results confirm the...
For patients with stage III colon cancer, early discontinuation of adjuvant chemotherapy leads to worse outcomes—but early discontinuation of oxaliplatin did not. These findings, which came from an analysis of the large ACCENT and IDEA clinical trials databases, were presented at the 2022 ASCO...
Rona Yaeger, MD, Assistant Attending Physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, offered her thoughts on the findings of Morris et al for the combination regimen of encorafenib, cetuximab, and nivolumab in microsatellite-stable BRAF V600E–mutated metastatic colorectal cancer...
The combination of encorafenib, cetuximab, and nivolumab produced responses in 50% of patients and disease control in 96% of patients with microsatellite-stable BRAF V600E–mutated metastatic colorectal cancer in a phase I/II trial reported at the 2022 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. The...
As reported in Nature by Yelena Y. Janjigian, MD, of the Gastrointestinal Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and colleagues, the first interim analysis of the phase III KEYNOTE-811 trial has shown a significantly higher objective response rate with the addition of...
Over the past year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted approval to several novel drugs and new indications for older therapeutic agents used in gastrointestinal oncology. Cetuximab Plus Encorafenib On September 28, 2021, cetuximab (Erbitux) was approved in combination with encorafenib...
Benoit Rousseau, MD, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, called the findings of the phase II GERCOR NIPICOL trial “interesting and convincing.” Long-term follow-up showed the 3-year progression-free survival rate to be 70% after 1 total year of treatment with nivolumab plus...
Samuel J. Klempner, MD, Associate Professor at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, commented on the NEONIPIGA study for The ASCO Post. “This study was the first prospective data set to show what many have suspected—that neoadjuvant immune checkpoint blockade would lead to a...
The phase II GERCOR NIPICOL study evaluated 1 year of treatment with nivolumab plus ipilimumab in patients with chemotherapy-resistant metastatic colorectal cancer whose tumors were microsatellite instability–high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR). With this shortened treatment duration,...
In a prespecified analysis of the phase II CodeBreaK100 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Marwan Fakih, MD, and colleagues found that the KRAS G12C protein inhibitor sotorasib showed modest activity in patients with previously treated KRAS G12C–mutant colorectal cancer.1 Study Details The...
In patients with resectable microsatellite instability–high (MSI-H)/mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) gastric and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma, dual checkpoint inhibition with ipilimumab and nivolumab given as neoadjuvant therapy led to a pathologic complete response rate of 58.6%,...
As reported in The Lancet by Jong-Mu Sun, MD, of Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, and colleagues, an interim analysis in the phase III KEYNOTE-590 trial has shown that the addition of first-line pembrolizumab to chemotherapy resulted in improved overall and progression-free...
Invited discussant of the two studies, Elena Élez, MD, PhD, of the Colon Cancer Program, Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology, Barcelona, Spain, discussed the challenge of treating BRAF-mutant colorectal cancer and what the new data bring to that effort. Dr. Élez noted: “BRAF V600E–mutant...
As reported in The Lancet by Yelena Y. Janjigian, MD, of the Gastrointestinal Oncology Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and colleagues, the phase III CheckMate 649 trial has shown that the addition of first-line nivolumab to chemotherapy resulted in improved overall and...
The phase II ANCHOR CRC study, the largest prospective study of BRAF inhibitor–based therapy as first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer, has met its primary endpoint, with 47.8% of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer responding to first-line treatment with encorafenib,...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Thierry Conroy, MD, and colleagues, the French phase III UNICANCER-PRODIGE 23 trial has shown that intensification of preoperative therapy with FOLFIRINOX (oxaliplatin, irinotecan, leucovorin, fluorouracil [5-FU]) prior to chemoradiotherapy resulted in...
The American Cancer Society (ACS) has named Arif Kamal, MD, MBA, MHS, FACP, FAAHPM, FASCO, as its first Chief Patient Officer to lead its patient support vision and strategic plans to improve the lives of patients with cancer and their families. Based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Dr. Kamal will ...
Raymond N. DuBois, MD, PhD, FAACR, was recently appointed Executive Chairman of the Board of The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research. Dr. DuBois is Director of the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Hollings Cancer Center and Distinguished University Professor at MUSC. As The Mark...
Robert Otto Valdez, PhD, MHSA, was appointed Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in February 2022. He was previously the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Professor Emeritus of Family & Community Medicine and Economics at the University of New Mexico (UNM). In...
David R. Penberthy, MD, MBA, was recently named President of the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) at the organization’s 48th Annual Meeting and Cancer Center Business Summit. Oncology professionals from around the nation gathered at the conference to discuss the convergence of...
Janice Mehnert, MD, was recently named Co-Chair of the ECOG-ACRIN Melanoma Committee, replacing Craig L. Slingluff, MD. Dr. Mehnert is Associate Director for Clinical Research and Director, Melanoma and Cutaneous Medical Oncology at NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center. She specializes in both...
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which also awards Nobel Prizes, has announced the winner of the 2022 Sjöberg Prize. Arul Chinnaiyan, MD, PhD, S.P. Hicks Professor of Pathology and Urology at Michigan Medicine, is being honored for the discovery of recurrent gene fusions in prostate cancer....
The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) announced that Matt Devino, MPH, has joined the organization as Director, Cancer Care Delivery and Health Policy. Mr. Devino will lead the organization’s initiatives to improve cancer care delivery and promote health equity across rural, urban,...
Gynecologic oncologist and surgeon B.J. Rimel, MD, recently was named Medical Director of the Cedars-Sinai Cancer Clinical Trials Office. She will serve as a medical liaison between clinical trial principal investigators and Cedars-Sinai Cancer leadership to ensure the quality of services provided...
Xin Gao, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses phase I/II findings on bavdegalutamide, an androgen receptor protein degrader, which showed clinical activity in heavily pretreated patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who received one to two prior novel hormonal...
Today, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center launched the James P. Allison Institute, a visionary research and innovation hub within MD Anderson designed to foster groundbreaking science, to develop new treatments, and to bring the benefits of immunotherapy to all patients. The Allison...
Scientists from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have identified variants in two genes that may be associated with accelerated aging in childhood cancer survivors. Their research looked at the difference between the survivors’ biologic age and chronologic age. The study, published by Dong et...
On March 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved lutetium Lu-177 vipivotide tetraxetan (Pluvicto) for the treatment of adult patients with prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-positive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who have been treated with androgen receptor...
Tanya B. Dorff, MD, of City of Hope National Medical Center, discusses the first-in-human phase I findings showing that prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA) CAR T-cell therapy is feasible in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, with preliminary antitumor activity exhibited.
Neil E. Fleshner, MD, MPH, of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, discusses phase II results from the ACDC-RP trial, which indicate a significant tumor response to neoadjuvant abiraterone acetate plus prednisone and leuprolide, with or without cabazitaxel, in patients with high-risk prostate...
Results of a biomarker analysis of the NRG Oncology NRG-GY004 trial were presented during the Society for Gynecologic Oncology’s (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer. The analysis, which occurred as part of a preplanned translational endpoint for the study, concluded that homologous recombination ...
Although appendectomy is still the most effective treatment for acute appendicitis, nonoperative management is increasingly common, as recent studies—such as one published in November 2020 in The New England Journal of Medicine and a second published in December 2021 in the same journal—have shown...
A new therapeutic strategy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) that initially primes the tumor with an immune checkpoint inhibitor before using a multikinase inhibitor has shown efficacy in a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Kikuchi et al reported that the new...
Sue S. Yom, MD, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco, discusses some of the latest developments in thyroid cancer, including the mutational landscape, therapies for high-risk and anaplastic diseases, and multimodalities for aggressive differentiated thyroid cancers.
A phase I/Ib trial conducted by the National Cancer Institute’s National Clinical Trials Network group NRG Oncology, NRG-GY017, concluded that the addition of the immunotherapy atezolizumab prior to and concurrently given with chemoradiation was safe for women with node-positive, locally advanced...
In a clinical trial involving patients with ovarian cancer previously treated with platinum-based chemotherapy, a novel antibody-drug conjugate therapy produced a substantially better response than standard treatments, investigators from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute reported at the Society of...
A combination therapy caused tumors to shrink or stabilize in 75% of patients with recurrent or persistent estrogen receptor (ER)-positive endometrial cancer, results from a recent clinical trial show. Trial leaders from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute presented the findings at the Society of...
On March 21, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) as a single agent for patients with advanced endometrial carcinoma that is microsatellite instability–high or mismatch repair–deficient (as determined by an FDA-approved test). Eligible patients have disease...
Elizabeth D. Cash, PhD, of the University of Louisville, discusses depression among patients with head and neck cancer, the impact it can have on prognosis, and the importance of helping patients cope through screening for depressive symptoms and treatment with collaborative care models.
Michelle Mierzwa, MD, of the University of Michigan, discusses early findings from a phase II trial of FDG-PET (fluorodeoxyglucose–positron-emission tomography) de-escalated radiotherapy for patients with p16-positive orophyaryngeal cancer. An interim analysis suggests that for approximately half...
On March 18, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved nivolumab and relatlimab-rmbw (Opdualag) for adult and pediatric patients 12 years of age or older with unresectable or metastatic melanoma. The approved treatment is a fixed-dose combination of the LAG-3–blocking antibody relatlimab ...
Today, ASCO and the European Cancer Organisation (ECO) held a virtual briefing with oncologists in Ukraine, Poland, and Romania to address the impact the war is having on patients with cancer displaced within Ukraine and those fleeing to neighboring countries. The briefing also included remarks...
The cost of cancer care is substantially impacting the lives of patients with cancer and survivors, forcing them to make significant lifestyle changes and causing some to incur long-term medical debt. According to a new Survivor Views survey from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network...
The combination of the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor niraparib plus abiraterone acetate and prednisone as first-line therapy significantly improved radiographic progression-free survival vs abiraterone and placebo alone in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer...