In an interim analysis of the Chinese phase III GEMSTONE-301 study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Zhou et al found that the PD-L1 inhibitor sugemalimab prolonged progression-free survival vs placebo in patients with locally advanced unresectable stage III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)...
A study published by David Gershenson, MD, and colleagues in The Lancet reported that the MEK inhibitor trametinib reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 52% compared to standard-of-care therapies in low-grade serous ovarian carcinoma. The international, multicenter phase II/III trial...
Rona Yaeger, MD, Associate 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 patients with microsatellite-stable BRAF V600E–mutated metastatic...
The combination of the BRAF inhibitor encorafenib with 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...
The invited discussant of the SOLSTICE trial1 was Demetris Papamichael, MB, BS, Consultant Medical Oncologist at the Bank of Cyprus Oncology Centre and Associate Professor at St. George’s Hospital and Medical School, University of London. He said that although the study concluded...
For the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer in patients unfit for intensive chemotherapy, trifluridine/tipiracil plus bevacizumab as first-line therapy was no more effective than capecitabine plus bevacizumab, investigators from the phase III SOLSTICE trial reported in a European Society for...
In the Chinese phase II PERMEATE trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Yan et al found that the combination of the pan-HER receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor pyrotinib plus capecitabine produced high intracranial response rates in women with HER2-positive breast cancer and brain metastases,...
In a Chinese phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Li et al found that treatment with two cycles of concurrent cisplatin and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) was noninferior to three cycles in progression-free survival and associated with reduced toxicity in patients...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Doki et al, the phase III CheckMate 648 trial has shown improved overall survival with nivolumab combined with chemotherapy or ipilimumab vs chemotherapy alone in patients with previously untreated advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, in ...
In a National Institutes of Health study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Zacharakis et al found that treatment with autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) reactive to mutations in metastatic lesions produced responses in patients with metastatic breast cancer. Study Details...
A disease control rate of 100% was achieved in gastrointestinal cancers treated with the KRAS G12C inhibitor adagrasib in the phase II KRYSTAL-1 trial, presented at the 2022 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.1 The population included primarily those with pancreatic cancer; other noncolorectal ...
Weight loss for adults, particularly those who are overweight or obese, may reduce their risk of developing a type of polyp that may lead to colorectal cancer, according to a new study published by He et al in JNCI Cancer Spectrum. Losing weight from early to late adulthood (up to the mid-70s)—at...
In a Spanish phase II trial (IMLC-2015) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Giné et al found that the combination of ibrutinib and rituximab produced a high complete response rate in previously untreated patients with indolent clinical types of mantle cell lymphoma. Study Details In the...
Romain Cohen, MD, PhD, of Sorbonne University and Saint-Antoine Hospital, discusses phase II results of the GERCOR NIPICOL study, which suggests nivolumab plus ipilimumab at a fixed duration of 1 year continued to show durable activity in patients with chemoresistant microsatellite...
In the Chinese phase III GEMSTONE-302 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Caicun Zhou, MD, and colleagues found that the addition of the PD-L1 inhibitor sugemalimab to platinum-based chemotherapy improved progression-free survival in the first-line treatment of metastatic squamous or nonsquamous ...
In 2014, The ASCO Post spoke with Mark J. Clemons, MB BS, BMedSci, MSc, MD, FRCP, FRCPC, of Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, about the retirement challenges faced by many oncologists. With market demand expected to exceed supply of oncologists soon, it is clear retirement is...
On January 31, the FDA approved an update to the prescribing information for axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta) to include use of prophylactic corticosteroids across all approved indications. Axicabtagene ciloleucel is now the first and only chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy with...
In a French phase II trial (IFCT-1703-R2D2) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Julien Mazieres, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that the combination of trastuzumab, pertuzumab, and docetaxel produced durable responses in previously treated patients with advanced HER2-mutant non–small cell...
The era of precision oncology, in which molecular biomarkers are used to help guide drug delivery, has dovetailed with the emerging issues of value-based care and cost containment. To shed light on these issues and more, The ASCO Post spoke with Hanna K. Sanoff, MD, MPH, Clinical Medical Director...
In a phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Jonathan Schoenfeld, MD, and colleagues found that the addition of low-dose or hypofractionated radiotherapy to durvalumab plus tremelimumab did not improve objective response rates in patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)...
The 2021 Annual Conference of the International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG) was held on November 4–5. Although participants could not join the conference in person, attendees could still stay informed about the latest developments in geriatric oncology through the virtual platform. The...
In an analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Erica L. Mayer, MD, MPH, and colleagues found that early discontinuation and lower exposure intensity of oral palbociclib did not appear to account for the lack of invasive disease–free survival benefit observed with the addition of...
In a single-center phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chi et al found that the combination of the MET inhibitor binimetinib and the KIT inhibitor imatinib produced a high response rate in patients with previously untreated advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor. As stated ...
David Cescon, MD, PhD, Clinician Scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, Canada, was the invited discussant of the two MONALEESA analyses.1,2 He noted that the most recent overall survival analysis, presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2021,...
Further analyses of the MONALEESA metastatic breast cancer trials have shown that the benefit of ribociclib plus endocrine therapy in the first-line setting extends to most intrinsic molecular subtypes and is consistent across multiple subgroups. The studies were presented at the 2021 San Antonio...
As reported in the Journal of Oncology by Reinhard Dummer, MD, and colleagues, the phase III COMBI-i trial has shown no significant progression-free survival benefit with the addition of the anti–PD-1 antibody spartalizumab to dabrafenib and trametinib in patients with no prior systemic treatment...
In an individual patient-level meta-analysis reported in The Lancet Oncology, Amar U. Kishan, MD, and colleagues found that the addition of androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) to definitive radiotherapy prolonged metastasis-free and overall survival in patients with localized prostate cancer. Longer ...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Howard P. Safran, MD, and colleagues, the phase III NRG Oncology/RTOG-101 trial has shown no significant disease-free survival benefit with the addition of perioperative trastuzumab to neoadjuvant chemoradiation in previously untreated patients with...
On January 26, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval to tebentafusp-tebn (Kimmtrak) for the treatment of adult patients with HLA-A*02:01–positive, unresectable or metastatic uveal melanoma. Tebentafusp’s approval establishes several firsts: as the first T-cell receptor...
In the INTRIGUE trial, the tyrosine kinase inhibitor ripretinib was not superior to sunitinib in the second-line treatment of patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST); however, the agent was better tolerated. These findings were presented by Michael C. Heinrich, MD, FACP, and...
Black women with breast cancer had significantly higher rates of lymphedema after axillary lymph node dissection compared with Hispanic, White, and Asian women in a prospective study of breast cancer–related lymphedema presented at the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS). In fact,...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Vicky Makker, MD, and colleagues, the phase III Study 309-KEYNOTE-775 trial has shown prolonged progression-free and overall survival with lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab vs physician’s choice of chemotherapy among previously treated patients with ...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) issued the following statement regarding the passing of Beatrice Mintz, PhD, FAACR, a trailblazing pioneer in multiple fields of cancer biology, who died January 3, 2022, at the age of 100. Born on January 24, 1921, in New York, New York, Dr....
The ASCO Post is pleased to continue this occasional special focus on the worldwide cancer burden. In this issue, we feature a close look at the cancer incidence and mortality rates in Burundi. The aim of this special feature is to highlight the global cancer burden for various countries of the...
On December 3, 2021, pembrolizumab was approved for adjuvant treatment of adult and pediatric (≥ 12 years of age) patients with stage IIB or IIC melanoma following complete resection.1 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings in the phase III, double-blind KEYNOTE-716 trial...
On November 30, 2021, daratumumab/hyaluronidase-fihj and carfilzomib were approved for use in combination with dexamethasone for adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who had one to three prior lines of therapy.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings in a cohort...
On December 2, 2021, rituximab was approved for use in combination with chemotherapy for pediatric patients (≥ 6 months to 18 years) with previously untreated, advanced-stage, CD20-positive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, Burkitt lymphoma, Burkitt-like lymphoma, or mature B-cell acute leukemia.1...
Tennessee Oncology, one of the largest providers of oncology care in the country, announced that Stephen Schleicher, MD, MBA, has been appointed Chief Medical Officer (CMO) effective January 1, 2022. Natalie Dickson, MD, President and CMO, will remain in her role as President of the company while...
Adjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy for early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is currently almost an afterthought and is taken for granted as a standard of care for patients with stage II to IIIA NSCLC after resection. The earliest meta-analysis, published in 1995,1 gave the first hint of ...
As reported in The Lancet by Enriqueta Felip, MD, of Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona, and colleagues, the phase III IMpower010 trial has shown improved disease-free survival with adjuvant atezolizumab vs best supportive care in the predefined population of patients with resected stage ...
A greater understanding of the mutational landscape in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has identified key oncogenes, such as EGFR, ALK, ROS, RET, and BRAF, among others. These discoveries, coupled with the availability of specific targeted small-molecule inhibitors, have transformed the...
Building on its long history of advancing health equity in cancer care, ASCO recently released “The ASCO Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Action Plan: A Legacy of Commitment, A Future of Promise for Individuals with Cancer.” The plan aims to infuse equity into all of the organization’s...
Multiple comparisons of traditional cytotoxic chemotherapy combinations that began decades ago led to the adoption of the platinum plus fluorouracil doublet as the standard of care for treatment of recurrent or metastatic esophageal cancer.1 Other combinations created by the addition and/or...
Jane N. Winter, MD, moderator of the press conference on late-breaking abstracts at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exhibition, commented on the BELINDA study in the context of two investigations that had been previously reported at the same meeting, showing...
The autologous chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy tisagenlecleucel failed to improve event-free survival vs standard-of-care treatment strategies in patients with aggressive, relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), according to results of the phase III BELINDA trial,...
After almost a century of limited efficacy of cancer immunotherapy,1 the breakthrough happened in 2012 with the discovery of immune checkpoint inhibitors,2,3 leading to the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo. Yet about 40% of patients on immune...
For the first-line treatment of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, the percentage of patients achieving measurable residual disease (MRD, previously called minimal residual disease) negativity was significantly greater when the anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody isatuximab was added to a standard...
The bispecific antibody mosunetuzumab achieved deep and durable remissions as monotherapy in patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma, according to the results of a pivotal phase II trial presented at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition.1 In ...
As a first-line treatment of inter-mediate- or high-risk diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, the addition of the antibody-drug conjugate polatuzumab vedotin-piiq to standard-of-care therapy resulted in a 27% reduction in the relative risk of disease progression, relapse, or death, with a similar safety...
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy with lisocabtagene maraleucel could prove to be the new standard-of-care treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma in the second-line setting, according to data presented at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH)...