A new study published by Hannan et al in European Urology Oncology showed that highly focused radiation to isolated metastases that progress despite drug therapy may prolong drug efficacy in patients with kidney cancer. Together with a Canadian report recently published by Cheung et al in European...
In the phase II ADAPT-IT trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Michael A. Postow, MD, and colleagues showed that findings on interim computed tomography (CT) allowed patients to avoid the third and fourth doses of combination nivolumab/ipilimumab for the treatment of advanced...
A study evaluating the clinical characteristics and outcomes of fully vaccinated patients with cancer who had breakthrough COVID-19 infections indicated they remained at high risk for hospitalization and death. The report, published by Schmidt et al in Annals of Oncology, showed that fully...
Nearly 100% of patients with solid tumors have antibodies effective against the SARS–CoV-2 delta variant after a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine, according to results published as a correspondence by Fendler et al in Cancer Cell. The new findings also highlight a proportion of patients with blood...
Patients with melanoma who reported eating more fiber-rich foods when they began treatment with immunotherapy survived longer without cancer growth than patients with insufficient dietary fiber intake, according to new research published by Spencer et al in Science. The benefit was most noticeable...
On January 3, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amended the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to expand the use of a single booster dose to include use in individuals aged 12 to 15 years; shorten the time between the completion of primary...
In the phase II MASTER trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Luciano J. Costa, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that daratumumab, carfilzomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (Dara-KRd) induction; autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (AHCT); and measurable residual disease (MRD) ...
In the phase III POLARIX trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Tilly et al found that polatuzumab vedotin-piiq plus R-CHP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and prednisone) significantly improved progression-free survival vs R-CHOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, ...
Oropharyngeal cancer incidence among men is continuing to rise rapidly in nearly all 50 U.S. states and among women living in states in the Midwest and Southeast regions, according to a new study published by Damgacioglu et al in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery. In addition, the...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Bishop et al, the phase III BELINDA trial showed no improvement in event-free survival with second-line tisagenlecleucel vs standard of care including salvage chemotherapy and autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in patients ...
New data were presented at the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium demonstrating that the Breast Cancer Index (BCI) may predict preferential recurrence-prevention benefit from extended endocrine therapy and may also predict the overall benefit/risk and likelihood of improved health outcomes...
In a phase II trial (NRG-CC004) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Barton et al found that bupropion, a dopaminergic agent, did not improve sexual desire vs placebo as measured by the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) desire subscale among postmenopausal women with low desire scores...
In the European phase III Lung ART trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Le Pechoux et al found that three-dimensional (3D) conformal postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) did not improve disease-free survival vs no PORT in patients with stage IIIA N2 non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had...
OCE Insights is an occasional column developed for The ASCO Post by members of the Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In this installment, Julie A. Schneider, PhD, Associate Director for Research Strategy and Partnerships, OCE; Jennifer J. Gao, MD,...
In the past decade, use of immunotherapy has arisen as a novel adjunct to multiple myeloma therapy. Daratumumab is the first anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in November 2015, for use in treating relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.1...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Thierry Facon, MD, of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Lille, and colleagues, a prespecified interim analysis of overall survival in the pivotal phase III MAIA trial has shown a significant benefit with the addition of daratumumab to...
The phase III COSMIC-312 study has met its primary endpoint, showing a significant improvement in progression-free survival with cabozantinib plus atezolizumab compared with sorafenib in treatment-naive hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), investigators reported at a European Society for Medical...
Myung-Ju Ahn, MD, PhD, Professor in the Department of Hematology and Oncology at Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, South Korea, said the novel regimen of sintilimab, IBI305, and chemotherapy is a promising approach in EGFR-mutated nonsquamous non–small cell lung...
A four-drug combination of the anti–PD-1 antibody sintilimab, the bevacizumab biosimilar IBI305, plus pemetrexed and cisplatin chemotherapy significantly improved progression-free survival compared with chemotherapy alone in patients with advanced nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with ...
The final results of the phase III PALLAS trial1 are “deeply disappointing,” said session moderator Matthew J. Ellis, MB, BChir, PhD, FACP, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center at Baylor College of Medicine. The results of the final primary analysis of PALLAS ...
The final protocol-defined analysis of the phase III PALLAS trial confirmed the negative results of the second interim analysis, showing no benefit of palbociclib plus endocrine therapy in the adjuvant breast cancer setting. Michael Gnant, MD, of the Medical University of Vienna, reported these...
Results of the phase III randomized KEYNOTE-355 trial showed that the addition of the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab to investigator’s choice of first-line chemotherapy improved progression-free and overall survival in women with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer compared with placebo and...
Several of the researchersand scientists at the 42nd annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), held December 10–14, attended the event on the basis of scholarships awarded through SABCS and its cosponsor, the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR). The goal of the scholarships is...
Throughout my adolescence and early adulthood, I had been plagued with digestive issues, including bouts of gastritis and constipation, which seemed normal for me and wasn’t too concerning. But by the time I turned 30, in 2015, the acid reflux I had been experiencing became so frequent and...
Over the past year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval to many novel drugs and new indications for older therapeutic agents used in oncology and hematology. NOVEMBER Pafolacianine for Ovarian Cancer Lesions: On November 29, pafolacianine (Cytalux), an imaging drug,...
Women who live in urban areas and those residing in rural areas are screened for breast cancer at similar rates, but rural women are screened for colorectal cancer at significantly lower rates than their urban counterparts, research published by Shete et al in JAMA Network Open showed. The...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Thomas Yau, MD, and colleagues, the phase III CheckMate 459 trial has shown no improvement in overall survival with first-line nivolumab vs sorafenib in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. Study Details In the open-label trial, 743 patients not...
Although research so far has failed to uncover the root causes of the development of young-onset colorectal cancer, what is certain is that although colorectal cancer rates are declining in older adults, they are on a steady rise in people younger than age 50, especially those between the ages of...
In the phase III KAITLIN trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ian E. Krop, MD, and colleagues found that adjuvant ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) plus pertuzumab did not improve invasive disease–free survival vs a taxane plus trastuzumab/pertuzumab, both following...
The 2021 ASH Annual Meeting & Exposition took place from December 11 to 14. This week, we’re highlighting two studies featured as late-breaking abstracts at the meeting.
A review article by Pfister et al published in Cancer Discovery summarizes the inaugural classification of pediatric tumors soon to be published by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as part of the new World Health Organization (WHO) Classification of Tumors series, including an online ...
In an updated analysis of the pivotal phase III CANDOR trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Saad Z. Usmani, MD, and colleagues found that the addition of daratumumab to carfilzomib and dexamethasone (KdD) continued to show a large progression-free survival benefit in patients with relapsed or...
In a single-institution phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Furman et al found that the addition of the humanized antidisialoganglioside monoclonal antibody hu14.18K322A to chemotherapy produced high rates of early and end-of-induction response and event-free survival in...
In an analysis from the Children’s Oncology Group study AHEP0731 reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Trobaugh-Lotrario et al found that the presence of small cell undifferentiated histology elements did not appear to adversely affect outcomes in pediatric patients with hepatoblastoma....
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Caron A. Jacobson, MD, and colleagues, the phase II ZUMA-5 trial showed that axicabtagene ciloleucel, an autologous anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, produced high rates of durable responses in patients with relapsed or refractory...
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. Study Details The...
On December 15, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved abatacept (Orencia) for the prophylaxis of acute graft-vs-host disease (GVHD), in combination with a calcineurin inhibitor and methotrexate, in adults and pediatric patients aged 2 years and older undergoing hematopoietic stem...
In an Indian single-institution phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chaukar et al found that neoadjuvant chemotherapy was associated with mandibular preservation in approximately half of previously untreated patients undergoing surgery for squamous cell carcinoma of the...
Although there is a biomarker that predicts response to the one approved immunotherapy agent for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, “it is important to note there are no biomarkers of response to neoadjuvant immunotherapy in early-stage triple-negative breast cancer,” Elizabeth A....
The American Cancer Society recently released its report on the status of cancer disparities in the United States for 2021. Researchers analyzed comprehensive and up-to-date data on racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in cancer occurrence; this includes incidence, stage at diagnosis,...
In an analysis of the phase III BELINDA trial presented by Bishop et al during the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition (Abstract LBA-6), the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy tisagenlecleucel was not found to improve event-free survival over the...
In an analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Zhao et al found that the addition of an immune checkpoint inhibitor to chemotherapy in trials of first-line treatment of advanced gastric or esophageal adenocarcinoma was not associated with benefit in low PD-L1–expressing subgroups not...
In the primary analysis of the phase III ZUMA-7 trial, the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy axicabtagene ciloleucel led to a fourfold increase in event-free survival over the standard of care in the second-line treatment of relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma, according to...
In separate analyses of 257 patients with acute leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) who developed COVID-19 and are part of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) RC COVID-19 Registry for Hematology, both neutropenia and having active MDS or leukemia (vs being in remission) were found to...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Bachy et al, the Lymphoma Study Association phase III Ro-CHOP trial showed no progression-free survival benefit with the addition of the histone deacetylase inhibitor romidepsin to CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone)...
As reported in JAMA Oncology by researchers from the OnCovid Study Group, an updated analysis of the European OnCovid registry indicated that mortality due to COVID-19 infection has decreased over time for patients with cancer during the pandemic. Study Details The study included real-world data on ...
L. Elizabeth Budde, MD, PhD, of City of Hope, discusses phase I/II findings that showed mosunetuzumab monotherapy induces deep and durable remissions in patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma who have received two or more prior lines of treatment, including those with...
Oncologists and health-care professionals who treat patients with high-risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are missing important opportunities to have end-of-life discussions at earlier stages in the disease course, when patients are best able to discuss their options and preferences. These findings...
According to a German study by Rotterdam et al presented at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition (Abstract 218), about 15% of people with blood cancers and other blood disorders had no vaccination-related antibodies after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine....
Patients with blood cancers, particularly those with more advanced disease, are at increased risk for serious COVID-19 outcomes, including an elevated chance of severe illness or death from infection, according to an analysis of more than 1,000 patients in the ASH Research Collaborative (RC)...