Presented here are summaries of three abstracts from the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting that are pertinent for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. The first two focus on men with homologous recombinant repair (HRR) gene alterations, including BRCA1/2. In the first study,...
On August 2, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved trifluridine and tipiracil (Lonsurf) with bevacizumab for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer previously treated with fluoropyrimidine-, oxaliplatin-, and irinotecan-based chemotherapy, an anti-VEGF biological therapy, and, if ...
Joshua Zeidner, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Chief of Leukemia Research, and Associate Chief of Hematology Research at the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, emphasized the high risk of relapse, even after allogeneic stem cell transplantation, for patients ...
As presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting, the phase III IMerge trial of imetelstat1 and the phase III COMMANDS trial of luspatercept2 met their primary endpoints of transfusion independence. The findings suggest that lower-risk patients with transfusion-dependent, non-del(5q) myelodysplastic...
In the primary analysis of the phase III randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled IMerge trial, in those achieving the primary endpoint of 8-week transfusion independence, treatment with imetelstat significantly reduced transfusion dependence—for a median duration of 1 year—and improved a...
On July 31, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved dostarlimab-gxly (Jemperli) with carboplatin and paclitaxel followed by single-agent dostarlimab for patients with primary advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer that is mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR), as determined by an...
As a first-line treatment of recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, the PD-L1 inhibitor durvalumab plus weekly carboplatin and paclitaxel provided clinically significant efficacy in the phase II FRAIL-IMMUNE (GORTEC 2018-03) trial.1 This regimen may prove to be an effective...
In a phase I study from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), New York, the combination of cabozantinib and cetuximab showed antitumor efficacy in heavily pretreated patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell cancer.1 Antoine Desilets, MD, an advanced oncology fellow ...
In partnership with the College of American Pathologists (CAP), ASCO has affirmed findings from its 2018 practice guideline on the use of HER2 testing in breast cancer. Notably, the ASCO/CAP expert panel found there is currently no justification for a new designation of HER2 test results for...
Additional follow-up of the phase III TROPiCS-02 trial has upheld the progression-free and overall survival benefit seen with sacituzumab govitecan-hziy compared with physician’s choice of treatment in patients with endocrine-resistant, hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast...
The 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting featured thousands of abstracts. In addition to our in-depth coverage of pivotal research from the meeting, The ASCO Post highlights the following studies of novel therapies for gastrointestinal cancers. Addition of Anti-TIGIT Agent in Unresectable Liver Cancer In the...
“Clinically, the implications [of the THOR trial] are clear in that all metastatic urothelial cancers should be tested for FGFR mutations,” stated invited discussant Daniel P. Petrylak, MD, of Yale School of Medicine. “This should be done at the beginning of treatment for metastatic disease, as it...
Targeted treatment with the fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitor erdafitinib significantly improved overall survival, progression-free survival, and objective response rates compared with investigator’s choice of chemotherapy in patients with advanced urothelial cancers and FGFR2/3...
In the largest prospective study of patients with primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma, radiation therapy was omitted in complete responders to immunochemotherapy without compromising outcomes. These findings were presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 “Mediastinal radiotherapy may be safely...
In a phase II trial (NCI Protocol 10250) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ingham et al found that the combination of olaparib and temozolomide showed activity in previously treated patients with advanced uterine leiomyosarcoma. Study Details In the multicenter trial, 22 evaluable...
A meta-analysis of randomized trials has revealed a benefit to ovarian ablation or suppression in preventing breast cancer recurrence in premenopausal women with estrogen receptor–positive tumors.1 The findings, based on almost 15,000 women in studies spanning several decades, were presented at the ...
On July 20, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved quizartinib (Vanflyta) with standard cytarabine and anthracycline induction and cytarabine consolidation, and as maintenance monotherapy following consolidation chemotherapy, for the treatment of adults with newly diagnosed acute...
In the final overall survival analysis of the phase III JUPITER-02 trial, first-line treatment with toripalimab plus gemcitabine and cisplatin resulted in a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival and progression-free survival vs chemotherapy alone in...
“Triple-negative breast cancer remains the most challenging subtype to treat because of its aggressive phenotype and limited treatment options,” stated Erica Michelle Stringer-Reasor, MD, who spoke at an education session on current approaches to treatment and future directions during the 2023 ASCO ...
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, Ting Bao, MD, DABMA, MS, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, focus on the use of...
The James P. Allison Institute at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has announced the appointment of its first members, including pioneering researchers who have made notable contributions to science as well as rising stars on the path toward important breakthroughs. This group will ...
Barbara Burtness, MD, the Anthony N. Brady Professor of Medicine and Chief Translational Research Officer at Yale Cancer Center, New Haven, featured the CONTINUUM study at the head and neck cancer session on Highlights of the Day during the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting. She noted the study’s premise...
The addition of the PD-1 inhibitor sintilimab to standard induction chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy resulted in a significant improvement in 3-year event-free survival, a manageable safety profile, and comparable quality of life in high-risk, locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma vs standard ...
The phase II PHERGain trial, which employed a response-adapted strategy in the treatment of early-stage, HER2-positive breast cancer, has shown promising results for the selective use of HER2 blockade and de-escalation of chemotherapy.1 Nearly all patients assigned to skip chemotherapy prior to...
Guest Editor’s Note: Psychological distress is highly prevalent in women diagnosed with premenopausal breast cancer and has a significant negative impact on their quality of life. Thus, effective strategies are urgently needed to reduce the symptom burden. In this installment of The ASCO Post’s...
Results from a series of randomized, controlled trials have prompted an update to the ASCO guideline on venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis and treatment in patients with cancer. The revised guideline, which had last been updated in 2019, is available from the Journal of Clinical Oncology.1...
Jennifer A. Ligibel, MD, FASCO, Director of the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies and Healthy Living at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and colleagues conducted a randomized study to evaluate the impact of a telephone-based ...
The implementation of a collaborative program between North American and Mexican medical institutions to achieve sustainable, high-quality care at a public hospital in the United States–Mexico border region for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has resulted in significant improvement ...
In the primary overall survival analysis of ZUMA-7, second-line treatment with axicabtagene ciloleucel significantly improved overall survival compared with high-dose therapy plus autologous stem cell transplantation (auto-HCT) in patients with early relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma....
As a relatively rare subtype, lobular breast cancer is not well understood by many oncologists. At the 2023 Miami Breast Cancer Conference, Tari A. King, MD, FASCO, described how it differs from its more common counterpart, ductal breast cancer, in terms of characteristics, prognosis, and optimal...
At extended follow-up, lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab showed sustained superiority over sunitinib for overall and progression-free survival as first-line treatment for advanced renal cell carcinoma.1 The majority of the benefit was observed in intermediate- and poor-risk subgroups, according to the...
The addition of nivolumab, an immune checkpoint inhibitor, to chemotherapy significantly improved progression-free survival in adults and children with advanced classical Hodgkin lymphoma with reduced toxicity compared with standard-of-care brentuximab vedotin plus chemotherapy, according to the...
Neoadjuvant therapy with pembrolizumab plus platinum-based chemotherapy followed by surgery and then adjuvant pembrolizumab led to significantly improved event-free survival in patients with resectable stage II and III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) compared with platinum-based chemotherapy...
Compared with the standard of care for relapsed multiple myeloma, a single infusion of ciltacabtagene autoleucel was associated with a significant 74% reduction in the risk of disease progression in patients with lenalidomide-refractory multiple myeloma after one to three relapses, the phase III...
My father is deaf. Born deaf, he is now 75 years old. He uses his voice, but he sounds strange to a hearing person when he speaks. He uses lip-reading techniques to communicate. A year ago, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. We did his oncology itinerary together. My father cannot go alone to...
Patients with intermediate-risk rectal cancer who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy with selective use of pelvic chemoradiation therapy had disease-free survival that was noninferior to the standard approach using pelvic chemoradiation, according to findings from the randomized phase III PROSPECT...
The phase III ADAURA trial previously found that adjuvant use of osimertinib improved disease-free survival for completely resected EGFR-mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in patients with stage IB, II, or IIIA disease.1 The final analysis of ADAURA, which was presented at the 2023 ASCO...
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 (Jason) Hou, PharmD, DiplOM, LAc, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, focus on ...
New research involving people living with HIV treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors has provided valuable insights into the safety and efficacy of immunotherapy in this historically excluded population, according to data published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.1 The real-world data...
Testing for the emergence of ESR1 mutations should be routine at disease recurrence or progression for patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer whose disease is being managed with endocrine therapy, according to an ASCO guideline rapid recommendation...
A study investigating the effect of Medicaid expansion on racial disparities in mortality among patients with gastrointestinal malignancies has found that the initiative was associated with a greater reduction in 2-year mortality rates among Black patients living in states with Medicaid expansion...
In newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer lacking a BRCA mutation, the addition of durvalumab and olaparib to standard therapy significantly improved progression-free survival, in a planned interim analysis of the international phase III DUO-O trial presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting1 and...
Many patients with early-stage, low-risk cervical cancer may be spared the side effects associated with radical hysterectomy and undergo simple hysterectomy with pelvic lymph node dissection instead, according to results of the international phase III SHAPE study presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual...
For patients with fully resectable pancreatic cancer, a minimally invasive surgical approach—laparoscopic or robotic—was shown to be comparable to open distal pancreatectomy in the multicenter randomized phase III DIPLOMA trial. These results were presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting and at a...
Mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx, a novel antibody-drug conjugate, significantly improved progression-free and overall survival in patients with platinum-resistant, recurrent ovarian cancers that express high levels of folate receptor–alpha (FR-alpha), according to the results of the phase III...
The oral IDH1/2 inhibitor vorasidenib significantly improved progression-free survival in patients with grade 2 gliomas expressing IDH1/2 mutations in the phase III INDIGO trial. These results, which were reported by lead author Ingo K. Mellinghoff, MD, FACP, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer...
On June 20, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved talazoparib (Talzenna) with enzalutamide for homologous recombination repair (HRR) gene–mutated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. TALAPRO-2 Efficacy was evaluated in TALAPRO-2 (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier...
Tak W. Mak, PhD, FAACR, was recently announced as this year’s winner of the Pezcoller Foundation–American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) International Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Cancer Research. Dr. Mak is Senior Scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University...
Findings from a phase III, randomized trial highlight the benefit derived from perioperative immunotherapy in patients with early-stage resectable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to data presented during the ASCO Plenary Series: April 2023 Session.1 Interim analysis of the Neotorch...
The addition of pembrolizumab to chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab led to improved overall survival and progression-free survival in women with persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer in the final protocol-specified overall survival analysis of the KEYNOTE-826 trial presented at ...