Findings from the first international prostate cancer quality-of-life study showed that significant numbers of men treated for the disease are struggling with continence and sexual problems after treatment. Results suggest that any treatment apart from active surveillance may negatively affect...
New research outlines the role of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in the detection and management of recurrent disease in prostate cancer patients. In initial results from a multicenter trial assessing the impact of F-18 DCFPyL...
In the phase III VIALE-A trial, venetoclax added to azacitidine led to a significant and clinically meaningful improvement in response rates and overall survival, as compared with azacitidine alone, in treatment-naive predominantly elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) ineligible for...
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has proved to be a valuable treatment option for patients with lymphoma in whom other therapies have failed. In clinical trials, the cellular immunotherapy was shown to provide durable remissions for nearly 40% of patients with large B-cell lymphoma....
The addition of the CD38 antibody isatuximab-irfc to carfilzomib and dexamethasone nearly halved the risk of disease progression or death in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, the interim analysis of the phase III IKEMA trial has shown.1 “Isatuximab plus carfilzomib and...
Compared with younger patients, older patients with cancer face unique challenges because many of them have age-related decreases in health-related quality of life. This can be a result of many factors, such as comorbidities, mental health, physical impairment, and financial stressors. A diagnosis...
The American Cancer Society (ACS) has updated its guideline for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, adapting a 2019 update from the Federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). The ACS first issued a guideline for routine use of the HPV vaccine in 2007, with an update issued in...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has honored Patricia S. Steeg, PhD, with its 2020 Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Memorial Lectureship. Dr. Steeg, Co-Director of the Office of Translational Resources and Associate Director of the Center for Cancer Research at the...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is honoring Benjamin F. Cravatt, PhD, with the 2020 AACR Award for Outstanding Achievement in Chemistry in Cancer Research. Dr. Cravatt, Professor at the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology and the Gilula Chair of Chemical Biology for the...
Beth Levine, MD, Professor of Internal Medicine and Microbiology, Director of the Center for Autophagy Research, and Charles Cameron Sprague Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Sciences at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern), and an investigator at the Howard Hughes ...
On May 18, 2020, atezolizumab was approved for the first-line treatment of adult patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors have high PD-L1 expression and no EGFR or ALK genomic tumor aberrations. High PD-L1 expression is defined as PD-L1 staining of at least 50% of...
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,...
During its recent Virtual Annual Meeting II, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) presented its 2020 Team Science Awards to the founding members and the current project team associated with The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). TCGA began in 2006 as a joint effort between the National...
Elected by a body of fellow immunotherapy researchers from across the globe, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center Deputy Director Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD, FRCOG, FACOG, has been named At-Large Director of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Board of Directors. Dr. Odunsi will begin his ...
Bjørn Henning Gronberg, MD, PhD, presented a paper at the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program reporting astounding positive results favoring higher-dose, twice-daily radiation therapy in limited-stage small cell lung cancer.1 This was a phase II study (large for phase II but small for phase III)...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies sometimes used by patients with cancer. In this installment, Yen Nien Hou, PharmD, DiplOM, LAc, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, focus on...
As the 21st Century Cures Act approaches its 4th anniversary, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) convened a working group made up of multidisciplinary experts from across the country to analyze current issues related to the 21st Century Cures Act and to develop recommendations for ...
It was ambitious and it was controversial, but the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act (Cures) made it through both houses of Congress and was signed into law in December 2016. Sponsored by Representatives Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Fred Upton (R-MI), the landmark legislation funded new medical...
In 2007, sorafenib became the first approved systemic therapy for hepatocellular cancers and the first agent to improve overall survival in these patients.1 In a similar multikinase inhibitor strategy, lenvatinib was found to be noninferior to sorafenib in overall survival in the same patient...
On June 18, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took an additional step in harnessing real-world data to help inform the agency’s overall response to the COVID-19 public health emergency. The FDA announced its participation in the COVID-19 Diagnostics Evidence Accelerator, a...
Palliative care’s road to acceptance as standard-of-care practice has been a remarkably unsmooth one, given its core mission: improving the quality of life of patients and their families by relieving the pain, symptoms, and stress of a serious or life-limiting illness. A person’s relationship with...
The study’s invited discussant, Ryan J. Sullivan, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Assistant Professor in Hematology/Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital, welcomed the positive results from the updated analysis of lifileucel in treatment-refractory melanoma....
In this edition of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, interviewed his colleague Brian J. Bolwell, MD, FACP, Chairman of the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute and Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. Among other things, Dr. Bolwell discussed his...
Two myeloma specialists weighed in on the disappointing findings of SWOG S1211: Suzanne Lentzsch, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine at Columbia University and Director of the Multiple Myeloma and Amyloidosis Service, and Joshua Richter, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at...
Clinicians interested in breast cancer who logged into the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program were greeted with an abundance of high-impact presentations. The ASCO Post has reported on several studies in depth elsewhere, but here we offer our readers a roundup of several important studies in early...
The ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program was the forum for an unusual but profoundly important event in oncology. Four studies that should be practice-changing were presented.1-4 These studies provided irrefutable evidence that we can improve the quality of life of older patients by reducing toxicity. ...
Philip McCarthy, MD, Professor of Oncology and Internal Medicine and Director of the Transplant and Cellular Therapy Center at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, New York, found the results of the DREAMM-6 study to be “exciting and promising.” He commented: “The overall response...
The antibody-drug conjugate belantamab mafodotin yielded responses as a single agent and in combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone in the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, according to two reports from the DREAMM team at the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program.1,2 In the...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has announced its newest class of grant recipients. Fellowships The 2019 Anna D. Barker Fellowship in Basic Cancer Research was awarded to Chaoyun Pan, PhD, of Emory University, Atlanta, and Conghui Yao, PhD, of Harvard Medical School, Cambridge....
The Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF) recently announced that Trudy Oliver, PhD, has joined its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Oliver is Associate Professor of Oncological Sciences at the University of Utah’s Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI), where she has served since 2011, and is an HCI...
Data from the phase II PrE0505 multicenter trial showed that adding durvalumab, an immune checkpoint antibody targeting programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1), to the combination of cisplatin and pemetrexed chemotherapy improved outcomes in previously untreated patients with unresectable malignant...
A visiting away elective is a resident’s designated time to visit another academic program to foster the growth of medical knowledge through patient care from the perspective of another health-care system and educational experience. The time dedicated to make this dream happen is grueling. First...
Pain is among the most difficult medical issues for oncologists to confront, said Tony L. Yaksh, PhD, Professor of Anesthesiology and Pharmacology at the University of California, San Diego, during his keynote address at the 2019 Supportive Care in Oncology Symposium. Failure to adequately manage...
With the rapid expansion of scientific advances, the intersection of ethics and the delivery of cancer care becomes ever more complicated. To shed light on some of the challenging ethical issues faced by today’s busy oncology practitioners, The ASCO Post spoke with Rebecca D. Pentz, PhD, Professor ...
In 2019, the GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer was born from the merger of the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation and the Lung Cancer Alliance. The marriage of two lung cancer advocacy groups raises the profile of each group’s work and combines considerable resources to combat lung cancer. The...
Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation, announced its 2020 grant and award recipients in conjunction with the 2020 ASCO Virtual Scientific Program. The awards will support researchers with projects spanning many areas in cancer care, including immunotherapy, lung and breast cancers, and palliative...
Health-care innovator and leader Glenn D. Steele Jr, MD, PhD, has been elected Board Chair at City of Hope. Dr. Steele joined the City of Hope Board of Directors in 2016 and was Chair of the Executive Compensation and Governance Committee from 2018 to 2020. “City of Hope has benefited from...
ASCO is conducting an open search for the position of Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President, as current Chief Medical Officer, Richard L. Schilsky, MD, FACP, FSCT, FASCO, prepares to retire in February 2021. ASCO’s Chief Medical Officer applies his/her medical and scientific knowledge ...
Adolescents and young adults (AYA) who have survived cancer may continue to suffer from insomnia long after treatment ends, interfering with a range of daily activities. In Pediatric Blood & Cancer, Eric S. Zhou, PhD, and Christopher J. Recklitis, PhD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute,...
“As a medical student, I often felt marginalized from my medical community. I have been told that my name is ‘not American,’ fallen prey to being confused for support staff such as a janitor (even while wearing my white coat), and been asked questions like, ‘Where are you really from?’ or ‘How old...
Jorge E. Cortes, MD, of Georgia Cancer Center, discusses interim results from the OPTIC study, which showed a trend toward dose-dependent efficacy and safety, and may provide a refined understanding of the ponatinib benefit/risk profile and its relation to dose. Mature data from continued follow-up ...
Positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) imaging with the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted radiotracer fluorine F-18 DCFPyL (PyL) successfully identified areas of occult metastasis in men with biochemically recurrent metastatic castration-resistant prostate...
Two gynecologic oncologists and ASCO’s Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President Richard L. Schilsky, MD, FACP, FSCT, FASCO, commented on the findings of the TROPHIMMUN trial for The ASCO Post. “The authors demonstrate efficacy of a new treatment approach for gestational trophoblastic...
The phase II BYLieve trial indicates the effectiveness of the PIK3CA inhibitor alpelisib in patients with PIK3CA-positive, hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative advanced breast cancer previously treated with a cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitor plus an aromatase inhibitor. These results...
Philip McCarthy, MD, Professor of Oncology and Internal Medicine and Director of the Transplant and Cellular Therapy Center at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, New York, found the results of the DREAMM-6 study to be “exciting and promising.” He commented: “The overall response...
Treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma yielded responses with the antibody-drug conjugate belantamab mafodotin, both as a single agent and in combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone. Two reports from the DREAMM team expanded on these findings at the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific...
Sharing his perspective on KEYNOTE-177 with The ASCO Post was Axel Grothey, MD, Director of GI Cancer Research at the West Cancer Center, OneOncology, Memphis. “This is a very important, highly anticipated study,” he said. “It’s the first randomized trial of any checkpoint inhibitor in...
Upfront treatment with immunotherapy not only improved results in a subset of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, it doubled the rates of median progression-free survival. These findings—the first of their kind—arose from the interim analysis of the randomized open-label phase III...
According to an interim analysis of the phase III JAVELIN Bladder 100 trial, rates of survival among patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma who did not progress on first-line platinum-based chemotherapy were significantly prolonged by maintenance therapy with avelumab and best supportive care...
Lecia V. Sequist, MD, who was not involved in the ADAURA study, said this could be a practice-changing study. Dr. Sequist is the Landry Family Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Center for Innovation in Early Cancer Detection at Massachusetts General Hospital....