As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Loriot et al, the fibroblast growth factor receptor 1-4 tyrosine kinase inhibitor erdafitinib showed activity in FGFR-altered advanced urothelial carcinoma. Study Details The study enrolled patients from sites in 14 countries between May...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Armstrong et al, findings from the phase III ARCHES trial have shown significant improvement in radiographic progression-free survival with enzalutamide plus androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) vs placebo plus ADT in men with metastatic...
A research team led by investigators from Georgetown University Medical Center and Fudan University in China has devised a noninvasive and individualized technique for detecting and treating bladder cancer. Their findings were published by Jiang et al in Protein & Cell. The method uses a...
CANCERCARE® has announced the publication of a patient manifesto that emphasizes the importance of including patients’ values and priorities in cancer treatment planning. This manifesto can be used to inform and advocate with policymakers, insurers, health-care administrators, electronic medical...
CATHY ENG, MD, FASCO, Professor of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, is joining Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC). She was recruited to assume the role of Co-Leader of the VICC Gastrointestinal Cancer Research Program. Dr. Eng ...
A handful of investigational drugs in early-phase trials always create a buzz at ASCO Annual Meetings. Two that garnered attention this year, and could eventually change outcomes in the clinic, are the first-in-class KRAS inhibitor AMG 510 and the ROS1 inhibitor repotrectinib. Should late-phase...
As part of The ASCO Post’s coverage of the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting, featured here are summaries of five abstracts of different clinical trials evaluating newer treatments for follicular and marginal zone lymphomas as well as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Follicular and Marginal Zone Lymphomas...
In addition to our regular coverage of major news stories from the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting, here is an additional roundup of important studies related to prostate cancer. ARAMIS: Darolutamide and Quality of Life Darolutamide, a next-generation androgen receptor antagonist, significantly prolonged...
Earlier this year, ASCO announced plans for its first-ever international meeting, ASCO Breakthrough: A Global Summit for Oncology Innovators, which will be held October 11–13, 2019, in Bangkok, Thailand. The meeting is a joint effort by ASCO and the Thai Society of Clinical Oncology to bring...
IT WAS a chilly Chicago morning, and I was sitting at the lobby of my hotel when I saw a smiling gentleman cheerfully waving at me from his car. It was Lawrence H. Einhorn, MD, picking me up for our drive to Indiana. I was one of the recipients of the ASCO International Development and Education...
In a phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Jason Fangusaro, MD, and colleagues found that the MEK1/2 inhibitor selumetinib was active in pediatric patients with recurrent, refractory, or progressive pilocytic astrocytoma with common BRAF aberrations and neurofibromatosis type 1...
In a retrospective analysis published by Si et al in Surgical Endoscopy, researchers found minimally invasive surgery led to higher survival and lower local recurrence in patients with small hepatocellular carcinoma vs radiofrequency ablation, whereas radiofrequency ablation was associated with...
On November 16, 2018, brentuximab vedotin was approved for use in combination with chemotherapy for previously untreated systemic anaplastic large-cell lymphoma or other CD30-expressing peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs), including angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma and PTCL–not otherwise...
The Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University has been awarded a 5-year, $9.7 million Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to study new approaches for lung cancer treatment. It is reportedly the only grant of its kind to be awarded in...
In the phase II CLARITY trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hillmen et al found that the combination of ibrutinib and venetoclax resulted in high rates of minimal residual disease eradication in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). In the...
Patients who experienced a disaster-level hurricance during radiotherapy for lung cancer had worse overall survival than those who completed treatment in normal circumstances, with longer disaster declarations associated with increasingly worse survival. These findings come from a...
Results from a phase IB trial expansion stage reported in The Lancet Oncology by Herbst et al showed the combination of ramucirumab plus pembrolizumab had manageable toxicity and antitumor activity in previously treated advanced gastroesophageal cancer, non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and ...
A new study finds that trends in colonoscopy rates did not fully align with recent increases in colorectal cancer incidence in younger adults. The findings were published by Fedewa et al in the Journal of Medical Screening. Colorectal cancer incidence rates are declining in adults older than...
Today, the Biden Cancer Initiative announced it would suspend all operations. The Initiative, which launched on June 26, 2017, is an independent nonprofit organization that was built on the goals of the White House Cancer Moonshot program created by President Barack Obama and led by Vice President ...
There were more than 8.7 million person-years of life lost and $94.4 billion in earnings lost due to cancer among people aged 16 to 84 in the United States in 2015. The calculation comes from a new report published by Islami et al in JAMA Oncology. Cancer is the second-leading cause of death...
Researchers have discovered two distinct subtypes of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs) associated with different risks of recurrence following surgical treatment. The finding could yield predictive tests while focusing vigilant follow-up monitoring on patients with pNETs that have a higher...
In the EMPOWER trial, which took place within the larger Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS) and was reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Oeffinger et al found that an intervention consisting of mailed educational materials followed by telephone-delivered counseling led to an increased...
Despite an avalanche of novel therapies approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over the past decade in the treatment of multiple myeloma, including proteasome inhibitors and immunomodulatory drugs, this blood cancer remains largely incurable, and nearly 13,000 people are expected...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel hematology and oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms of action, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On February 22, trifluridine/tipiracil...
Findings from a study of patients who received radioactive iodine treatment for hyperthyroidism show a modest association between the dose of treatment and long-term risk of death from solid cancers, including breast cancer. The study, led by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), was...
Regorafenib is often administered to patients with refractory metastatic colorectal cancer. However, some of the adverse events related to the use of this drug often limit its use in clinical practice. A study reported by Argilés et al at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)...
The work of nine researchers who have previously received funding from Conquer Cancer is featured in ASCO’s Clinical Cancer Advances 2019. Visit CONQUER.ORG/CCA for more details. Immunotherapy for Head and Neck Cancer At the Moores Cancer Center at UC (University of California) San Diego Health,...
Welcome, everyone. We are so glad that you are all here today. Those of you attending your first ASCO Annual Meeting: Welcome to this amazing organization. What I’d like to do is to show you some of what ASCO offers, and challenge you all to join in to make a powerful future a reality. We have a...
Unlike non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which has seen a paradigm shift in treatment modalities with the discovery of genetic signatures (including EGFR mutations) that are responsive to targeted drugs, systemic treatment of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) has remained largely unchanged for over...
In the phase III SOPHIA trial of 536 heavily pretreated patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, the novel anti-HER2 antibody margetuximab plus chemotherapy led to significant improvements in progression-free survival, response, and clinical benefit compared with...
Neoadjuvant immunotherapy had encouraging activity and demonstrated favorable safety in patients with resectable early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to two studies presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting.1,2 This approach has the potential to boost the survival rate in...
In the global phase III NALA trial, treatment of metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer with neratinib plus capecitabine significantly improved progression-free survival, delayed the time to intervention for central nervous system disease, and showed a trend toward improved overall survival vs...
“The end-of-study analysis of the CLEOPATRA trial demonstrates and confirms the long-term benefit of combined HER2-antibody therapy, with a significant number of ongoing responders,” said John T. Cole, MD, breast cancer specialist and Director of Clinical Cancer Research at Ochsner Health System...
Just as newer drugs have significantly improved outcomes for patients with multiple myeloma in the past decade, newer imaging techniques are upgrading detection of the disease, leading to earlier treatment, but standards to help guide clinicians on the optimal use of advanced imaging have lagged...
The MAVORIC study—presented by Scarisbrick et al at the 15th International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma (ICML; Abstract 034)—examined the efficacy of mogamulizumab, a monoclonal antibody that targets the CC chemokine receptor 4 (CCR4), in patients with previously treated mycosis...
The work of nine researchers who have previously received funding from Conquer Cancer is featured in ASCO’s Clinical Cancer Advances 2019. Visit CONQUER.ORG/CCA for more details. New Approaches in Leukemia In two separate trials, Conquer Cancer researchers joined forces to improve treatment for...
In the final analysis of KEYNOTE-048, first-line pembrolizumab monotherapy led to a significant improvement in overall survival, vs standard chemotherapy with targeted therapy (EXTREME regimen), in patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma expressing programmed...
In the field of prostate cancer, the use of androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer is received wisdom. When experts are asked why ADT is continued once the disease has figured out how to evade hormone suppression, the answer invariably is...
A fixed-duration regimen of venetoclax plus obinutuzumab demonstrated superior progression-free survival, complete response rates, and minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity compared with chlorambucil plus obinutuzumab as first-line therapy for older patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia...
Adding apalutamide to androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) significantly improved survival in men with metastatic castration-sensitive (also termed hormone-sensitive) prostate cancer, according to the results of the phase III TITAN trial, which were presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting and...
Excluding skin cancer, colorectal cancer is the third most prevalent and lethal cancer among both men and women in the United States.1 Although the risk of developing colorectal cancer increases with age—more than 90% of cases occur in people aged 50 or older2—recent research shows that the...
Agents that improve survival in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer when added to background androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) are showing success in treating metastatic prostate cancer earlier while it is still hormone-sensitive. These agents include docetaxel (chemotherapy) and...
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center has joined with hospitals, health systems, physicians, and supportive care teams from across New York to launch the Roswell Park Care Network. Led by Roswell Park, the network is the most expansive community cancer, supportive care, and specialized care...
In a phase III ARAMIS trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Karim Fizazi, MD, of the Institut Gustave Roussy, Universite Paris-Sud, Villejuif, France, and colleagues found that the androgen-receptor antagonist darolutamide significantly prolonged metastasis-free survival vs placebo ...
In the phase III CASSIOPEIA trial, reported in The Lancet and presented at the 24th Annual Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA; Abstract S145) by Moreau et al, daratumumab plus bortezomib/thalidomide/dexamethasone (D-VTd) given before and after autologous stem cell transplantation...
A new retrospective study led by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute examined outcomes for patients after receiving treatment for locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), finding that the average radiation dose delivered to the...
In the single-center, phase II NeoCombi trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Long et al found that neoadjuvant dabrafenib plus trametinib produced promising response rates in resectable, stage IIIB/C, BRAF V600–mutant melanoma. As noted by the investigators, adjuvant dabrafenib plus...
In the phase III QuANTUM-R trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Cortes et al found that the FLT3 inhibitor quizartinib produced a modest but significant improvement in overall survival vs salvage chemotherapy in relapsed or refractory FLT3 internal tandem duplication (FLT3-ITD)-positive acute...
In an extended analysis of the COMBI-d and COMBI-v trials reported at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 9507) and in The New England Journal of Medicine, Robert et al found a 5-year overall survival rate of 34% with the combination of dabrafenib and trametinib in previously untreated...
A new study examining Medicaid expansion and cancer screening found that the five states and District of Columbia that first adopted Medicaid expansion saw larger increases in colorectal cancer screening than states that did not expand Medicaid. The study—published by Fedewa et al in...