With nearly all patients who undergo treatment for cancer of the head and neck experiencing oral mucositis, effective pain control is one of the main goals of physicians and care teams. Looking to provide more effective relief for patients—while also reducing the need for opioid painkillers—a team...
In a phase I study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Max S. Topp, MD, and colleagues found the maximum tolerated dose of the investigational anti–B cell maturation antigen (BCMA) bispecific T-cell engager (BiTE) molecule AMG 420 elicited a high response rate in patients with relapsed or ...
In 2017, breast cancer expert Gabrielle Rocque, MD, MSPH, received an American Cancer Society Mentored Research Scholar Grant for her work in enhancing shared decision-making for patients with advanced breast cancer. “I come from three generations of physicians,” shared Dr. Rocque. “My father (Dr. ...
Advanced mantle cell lymphoma appears to be a good target for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. Treatment with KTE-X19, an anti-CD19 CAR T-cell product, led to unprecedented outcomes in patients with relapsed or refractory disease in the phase II ZUMA-2 study presented at the 2019 ASH ...
Some patients with cancer celebrate the end of a course of radiation or chemotherapy by ringing a bell. Indeed, many patients say they love the graduation-like ceremony and the sense of closure it gives them. However, a study published by Williams et al in the International Journal of Radiation...
In a phase Ib/II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Taylor et al found the combination of the VEGF inhibitor lenvatinib and the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor pembrolizumab showed activity across a range of advanced solid tumors. As stated by the authors, there is ...
Consider a patient who is referred for neoadjuvant therapy for stage IIIA, HER2-positive breast cancer. She is otherwise healthy, with no significant medical history, an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0, unremarkable baseline labs, and a left-ventricular ejection fraction...
As first-line treatment of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and a germline BRCA/PALB2 mutation, cisplatin plus gemcitabine yielded high response rates and encouraging survival, establishing this doublet as a standard approach in this subset of patients, according to Eileen M....
Patient enrollment in clinical trials as the first course of treatment after cancer diagnosis is low, despite the fact that enrollment may increase life expectancy, according to research published by Zaorsky et al in JNCCN–Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. Researchers also found ...
Scott Kopetz, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses phase III findings from the BEACON CRC trial, which had demonstrated that the triplet regimen of encorafenib, cetuximab, and binimetinib significantly improved overall survival in patients with a BRAF V600E...
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute will create the Chen-Huang Center for EGFR-Mutant Lung Cancers to stimulate research, promote clinical trials, and strengthen the Institute’s capabilities for studying and treating lung cancer. The Chen-Huang Center is being established with a $5 million gift from...
February 4, 2020, will mark the 20th anniversary of World Cancer Day, an annual event meant to raise cancer awareness and encourage governments, oncology societies, nongovernmental organizations, businesses, and individuals to take action against the global impact of the disease. Formed in...
Eli J. Glatstein, MD, FASCO, Morton M. Kligerman Professor, Radiation Oncology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, made a significant impact on how different cancers are diagnosed and treated. His research improved how physicians stage and treat cancer,...
On December 27, 2019, the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor olaparib was approved for the maintenance treatment of adult patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline BRCA-mutated metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma, as detected by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration...
In the phase II TOPARP-B trial—reported by Joaquin Mateo, MD, in The Lancet Oncology—investigators found that olaparib showed good activity in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and DNA damage response (DDR) gene aberrations who had received one or two prior taxane regimens....
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Brian I. Rini, MD, and colleagues, the phase III TIVO-3 trial has shown a statistically significant increase in progression-free survival with tivozanib vs sorafenib as a third- or fourth-line treatment for advanced renal cell carcinoma. Study Details The...
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center recently announced that Thomas J. Lynch, Jr, MD, will become the center’s new President and Director. Dr. Lynch, a cancer expert in solid tumor research, precision medicine, and immuno-oncology, will join Fred Hutch on February 1. Dr. Lynch will become the...
On December 18, 2019, the antibody-drug conjugate enfortumab vedotin-ejfv (PadcevTM) was granted accelerated approval for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer who have previously received a programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) or programmed cell...
On December 20, 2019, the antibody-drug conjugate fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki was granted accelerated approval in the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer who have received two or more prior anti–HER2-based regimens in the metastatic setting.1,2...
On December 3, 2019, atezolizumab in combination with nab-paclitaxel and carboplatin was approved for first-line treatment of metastatic nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with no EGFR or ALK genomic tumore aberrations.1,2 The approval was based on findings in the open-label phase III...
Despite millennia of anatomic and biomedical search and discovery, there are parts and functions of the human body that remain a mystery. For years, medical students were taught that there are 78 organs in the human body. In February 2017, that number was revised, with the announcement of a new...
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the Art of Oncology as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...
On December 16, 2019, enzalutamide (Xtandi) was approved for the treatment of patients with metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data The current approval was based on findings from the phase III double-blind ARCHES trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier...
The 2019 Supportive Care in Oncology Symposium: Advancing Palliative Research Across the Care Continuum, held this past October in San Francisco, marked the fifth anniversary of its inauguration and its last as a stand-alone ASCO thematic meeting. Since its launch in 2014 as the Palliative Care in...
The likelihood of a patient responding to immune checkpoint blockade may depend on B cells in the tumor, located within specialized immune-cell clusters known as tertiary lymphoid structures, according to three studies all recently published in Nature. The studies showed that enrichment of B cells...
This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review to treatments for ovarian, prostate, and lung cancer; granted Orphan Drug designation to therapies for chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia and multiple myeloma; and granted Breakthrough Device designation to platforms...
A new study has shown how resistance to fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitor treatment develops in patients with cholangiocarcinoma and suggests that adding another therapy at the time of disease progression might resensitize tumor cells to initial therapy. These findings were...
Blinatumomab was superior to standard chemotherapy in children, adolescents, and young adults at the first relapse of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) as post-reinduction consolidation therapy prior to hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT), according to the results of a late-breaking...
Although advances in cancer treatments have led to huge increases in the number of survivors in the United States—more than 16.9 million in 2019—many of those survivors, particularly those aged 18 to 64, face substantial medical financial hardship due to their diagnosis and treatment, necessitating ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Tarhini et al, the phase III Intergroup E1609 trial has shown an overall survival advantage with adjuvant ipilimumab at 3 mg/kg—but not at 10 mg/kg—vs high-dose interferon alfa-2b in patients with resected high-risk cutaneous melanoma. The...
New research indicates that there is a higher risk of early death among patients with oropharyngeal cancer not associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) vs those whose tumors are HPV-positive. The findings are published by Fullerton et al in Cancer. The incidence of oropharyngeal cancer is...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Alexander E. Perl, MD, of Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues, the phase III ADMIRAL trial showed improved overall survival with the oral FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) inhibitor gilteritinib vs salvage...
Karen Ballen, MD, an international expert in stem cell transplantation, particularly for patients who have a difficult time finding a donor, was born and reared in the Bronx in a family that encouraged academic and professional pursuits. “My grandfather was an old-fashioned pediatrician who made...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Louis Fehrenbacher, MD, and colleagues, the phase III NSABP B-47/NRG Oncology trial has shown no invasive disease–free survival benefit with the addition of trastuzumab to adjuvant chemotherapy therapy in patients with HER2-negative breast cancer...
Bariatric surgery is associated with a distinct reduction in skin cancer risk, according to findings published by Taube et al in JAMA Dermatology. This finding further substantiates the connection between weight loss and malignant skin cancer. “This [study] provides further evidence for a...
In the phase II TOPARP-B trial—reported by Mateo et al in The Lancet Oncology—investigators found that olaparib showed activity in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and DNA damage response (DDR) gene aberrations who had received one or two prior taxane regimens. Study...
The antibody-drug conjugate ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) showed activity in HER2-amplified salivary gland tumors, according to data published by Jhaveri et al in Annals of Oncology. The publication is for ‘Arm Q,’ which is one of nearly 40 single-arm phase II treatments in the NCI-Molecular...
Interim analysis of the phase I/II KEYNOTE-051 trial, reported in The Lancet Oncology by Geoerger et al, indicated minimal activity of pembrolizumab in pediatric patients with programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1)-positive advanced, relapsed, or refractory solid tumors; however, activity was...
Testicular cancer recurrence may be prevented by giving men one cycle of chemotherapy instead of the two cycles used as standard. Lowering the overall exposure to chemotherapy also reduced side effects. These findings were published by Cullen et al in European Urology. Testicular cancer is the most ...
Sponsors of clinical trials conducted under investigational new drug (IND) applications are required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to report serious adverse events that are unexpected and suspected to be related to the drug. However, contrary to FDA guidance, investigators often...
Medical oncologists in Brazil are being encouraged to take advantage of a new measure set for assessing the quality of care they provide to patients with lung cancer. Lung cancer is one of the most prevalent and deadly types of cancer in Brazil.1 Providing a platform for health-care providers to...
Early in 2019, trastuzumab and the endoglycosidase hyaluronidase-oysk for subcutaneous injection was approved in the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer.1,2 The agent is indicated for adjuvant treatment of patients with HER2-overexpressing node-positive or node-negative (estrogen...
Findings in the phase Ib KEYNOTE-013 and phase II KEYNOTE-170 trials, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Philippe Armand, MD, PhD, of DanaFarber Cancer Institute, and colleagues, indicate that pembrolizumab is active in relapsed or refractory primary mediastinal large B-cell...
As reported in The Lancet by Barbara Burtness, MD, of the Department of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, and colleagues, the phase III KEYNOTE-048 trial has shown improved overall survival with first-line pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy vs cetuximab plus chemotherapy among patients...
Dr. Smith called us on a Tuesday afternoon. “I have a patient who has an abnormal mammogram showing a large mass. I’m suspecting cancer and am referring her to you for diagnosis and treatment. She’s very anxious. I hope you can help.” We were able to get Dr. Smith’s patient in the next day for...
The novel antibody-drug conjugate [fam-] trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) achieved high response rates and durable responses in heavily pretreated patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, according to results of the phase II DESTINY-Breast 01 trial presented at the 2019 San Antonio...
A year before my diagnosis of multiple myeloma, in 2010, my husband Paul and I moved with our six children to Monterrey, Mexico, where Paul was helping to create a venture capital industry. We were so busy settling into a new country and getting our children integrated into school that when I...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Daniel P. Petrylak, MD, and colleagues, the phase III RANGE trial has shown no significant improvement in overall survival with the addition of ramucirumab to docetaxel in patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma previously treated...
Late in 2018, the FLT3 inhibitor gilteritinib was approved for the treatment of adult patients who have relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with a FLT3 mutation, as detected by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved test.1,2 The FDA also approved an expanded indication...
To complement The ASCO Post’s comprehensive coverage of the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on novel therapeutic regimens for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). For full details of these...