On April 12, Patrizia Cavazzoni, MD, was announced as the Director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Janet Woodcock, MD, Acting Commissioner of the FDA, noted on Twitter: “Pleased to announce the permanent appointment of Patrizia ...
In the next 2 decades, rankings of incidence and death across cancer types in the United States will undergo important changes, according to new research published by Lola Rahib, PhD, and colleagues in JAMA Network Open. The study estimates that pancreatic cancer is on course to become the...
Lower levels of cancer aneuploidy were associated with more favorable outcomes after immune checkpoint inhibition in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to data presented by Alessi et al at the virtual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2021...
Tumor mutational burden (TMB) was an accurate predictor of response to treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors for female patients with melanoma, but not for male patients, according to results of a study presented by Sinha et al during the virtual American Association for Cancer Research...
Enrique Grande, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Madrid, discusses phase III overall survival results from the IMvigor130 study of atezolizumab plus platinum and gemcitabine vs placebo plus platinum and gemcitabine in patients with previously untreated metastatic...
On April 13, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to sacituzumab govitecan-hziy (Trodelvy) for patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer who previously received a platinum-containing chemotherapy and either a PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitor....
Samra Turajlic, MBBS, PhD, of The Francis Crick Institute, discusses our limited understanding of metastases in terms of the timing of dissemination, the many metastatic phenotypes and varieties of seeding, as well as how the spread of cancer evades the immune system and resists treatment....
Brian I. Rini, MD, of Vanderbilt University, discusses the IMmotion151 trial results on overall survival and the association of gene expression and clinical outcomes with atezolizumab plus bevacizumab vs sunitinib in patients with locally advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma (Abstract CT188).
Cirmena et al discussed whether using a liquid biopsy test to assess plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) integrity could improve the accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for predicting the achievement of complete response among patients with locally advanced breast cancer who had received...
Women diagnosed with ovarian cancer were more than three times more likely than the general public to be diagnosed with anxiety, depression, and adjustment disorder, according to results presented by Hu et al during the virtual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2021...
Racial differences in genetic mutations were observed among patients with early-onset colorectal cancer, according to data presented by Andreana N. Holowatyj, PhD, MS, during the virtual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2021 (Abstract 101). The incidence of early-onset ...
Karen E. Knudsen, MBA, PhD, will be the next Chief Executive Officer of the American Cancer Society and its advocacy affiliate, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), starting June 1, 2021. She will take the reins from the retiring Gary Reedy, who has served as both...
Jessica C. Hassel, MD, of University Hospital Heidelberg, discusses phase III results of a study that compared tebentafusp, a bispecific fusion protein, with investigator’s choice in patients with metastatic uveal melanoma. Tebentafusp nearly halved the risk of death among patients in the trial...
Matthew J. Matasar, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses phase III results of the CHRONOS-3 trial, which showed that copanlisib plus rituximab led to a 48% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death compared with placebo plus rituximab in patients with relapsed...
Patrick M. Forde, MD, of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University, discusses results from the CheckMate 816 trial, which showed that adding nivolumab to chemotherapy as a neoadjuvant treatment for patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer improved the...
Vivek Subbiah, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses data on selpercatinib that showed promising activity across a variety of RET fusion–positive cancers, including treatment-refractory gastrointestinal malignancies. This analysis highlights the need for genomic...
Rita Nanda, MD, of the University of Chicago, discusses the latest data on novel treatment strategies for triple-negative breast cancer, including immune checkpoint, PARP, and ATK inhibitors; antibody-drug conjugates; and targeting the androgen receptor.
Brian Bolwell, MD, FACP, has been appointed to the newly created role of Chair, Physician Leadership and Development within the Mandel Global Leadership and Learning Institute at Cleveland Clinic. His new position is effective May 1, 2021. Dr. Bolwell has served as Chair of Cleveland Clinic...
Treatment with unselected autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) showed early clinical efficacy among patients with advanced melanoma, according to results presented by Hawkins et al during week 1 of the virtual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2021 (Abstract ...
Bispecific anti-CD19/CD20 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy was well tolerated and showed signs of clinical efficacy in patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell lymphoma, according to phase I clinical trial data presented by Ghafouri et al during week 1 of the virtual American...
We who live and work in Seattle recently took note of two milestones: the first death of a patient from COVID-19 reported in the United States in Seattle on February 28, 2020, and recognition of 5,000 deaths from COVID-19 in the state of Washington on March 2, 2021. The juxtaposition of these two...
An experienced executive has rejoined the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center team, announced Roswell Park President and Chief Executive Officer Candace S. Johnson, PhD. Jeff Walker, MBA, has been recruited back to Western New York to fill the new role of Executive Vice President of Operations ...
Surgeon and women’s cancers expert Leslie R. Boyd, MD, has been named Director of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center and within the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at New York University (NYU) Langone Health. Dr. Boyd joined NYU Langone in...
Cancer researcher Andrew Ewald, PhD, has been appointed Director of the Department of Cell Biology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He will take over the position from Peter Devreotes, PhD, who will remain on the faculty at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Ewald joined the medical school...
The European Society for Medical Oncology and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer recently presented the Heine H. Hansen Award 2021 to Johan Vansteenkiste, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine at the Catholic University of Leuven and Head of Clinic in the Respiratory Oncology Unit...
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute has appointed cancer researcher Ze’ev Ronai, PhD, as Director of its National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Cancer Center. Established in 1976, the Cancer Center is one of only seven NCI-designated Basic Laboratory Cancer Centers in the...
City of Hope recently announced the appointment of Terence M. Williams, MD, PhD, as Professor and Chair of its Department of Radiation Oncology. Dr. Williams takes the helm of one of the largest and most experienced radiation oncology services in the country, with more than 15 locations and 42...
Fox Chase Cancer Center recently welcomed Cihangir Duy, PhD, MS, who has joined the Cancer Signaling and Epigenetics Program as Assistant Professor. Before coming to Fox Chase, Dr. Duy was Instructor in Cell and Developmental Biology at Weill Cornell Medicine Graduate School of Medical Sciences in...
Krista Nelson, MSW, LCSW, OSW-C, FAOSW, was named President of the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) at the organization’s virtual 47th Annual Meeting and Cancer Center Business Summit. Ms. Nelson will lead the association for the next year, as oncology professionals tackle critical...
Benjamin Ebert, MD, PhD, Chair of Medical Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, George P. Canellos, MD, and Jean S. Canellos Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Institute Member of Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, has been awarded the Sjöberg Prize, an annual international...
The Sarcoma Alliance recently announced the appointment of William Tseng, MD, to the organization’s Board of Directors. A surgical oncologist at Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC), Dr. Tseng specializes in soft-tissue sarcoma. “Our Board of Directors comprises a...
A group of 37 medical and radiation oncologists—along with a staff of cancer-care providers, led by Bruno S. Fang, MD, and Edward J. Licitra, MD, PhD, who currently constitute the Central Jersey Division of Regional Cancer Care Associates—are forming Astera Cancer Care, an independent and...
Stand Up To Cancer has announced $3.25 million in grants from four national nonprofits to fund research to find new treatments for head and neck cancers, which are newly diagnosed in about 65,000 Americans every year. The grants include contributions of $1.5 million each from the Fanconi Anemia...
In a recent study reported by Marlow et al in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers assessed the risk of leukemia in children with Down syndrome. Their findings pointed to stronger-than-expected associations between Down syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Down syndrome is one of the most...
On April 7, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted regular approval to sacituzumab govitecan-hziy (Trodelvy) for patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer who have received two or more prior systemic therapies, at least one of them...
Jennifer R. Brown, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses treatment choices for patients with relapsed or refractory CLL/SLL, when to stop therapy due to adverse events, BTK inhibitors and their second-generation counterparts, the need for ways to manage disease progression on novel...
April K. Salama, MD, of Duke Cancer Institute, discusses the shift in recent years, as more effective therapies have become available, toward integrating systemic upfront treatment of patients with brain metastases from cutaneous melanoma; pivotal studies that have provided key data; and the need...
Patients with ovarian cancer frequently receive aggressive end-of-life care despite industry guidelines that emphasize quality of life for those with advanced disease, according to a recent study published by Mullins et al in the journal Cancer. In fact, by 2016, intensive care unit (ICU) stays and ...
Research published by Orgel et al in the journal Blood Advances showed that restricting calories, reducing fat and sugar intake, and increasing physical activity may boost the effectiveness of chemotherapy for older children and adolescents with leukemia. This intervention, which improved...
On April 6, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new dosage regimen for cetuximab (Erbitux) of 500 mg/m2 as a 120-minute intravenous infusion every 2 weeks for patients with KRAS wild-type, EGFR-expressing colorectal cancer or squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. This...
David G. Pfister, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the many considerations when caring for patients with head and neck cancers, such as dental and nutritional issues; side effects from radiation, including necrosis of the bone; oral health; problems with speech; and the...
A study published by Yuan et al in the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology found using percutaneous image-guided needle-based thermal ablation—the precise application of extreme heat or cold to a tumor using sophisticated imaging in a single outpatient session—is a safe and effective...
Among patients at high risk of melanoma, those who received routine skin cancer screening and education about skin self-exams were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with thinner and earlier-stage melanomas, according to results published by Michael Sargen, MD, and colleagues in Cancer...
A combination of esophageal brushing and extensive genetic sequencing of the sample collected may detect chromosome alterations in people with Barrett’s esophagus, identifying patients at risk for progressing to esophageal cancer. These findings were published by Douville et al in ...
Thomas K. Varghese, Jr, MD, of Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, summarizes a panel discussion on how the COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted cancer screenings, when telemedicine works and when it doesn’t, opening alternative care sites in the community, and the emotional and...
Crystal S. Denlinger, MD, of Fox Chase Cancer Center, and Mary F. Mulcahy, MD, of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, discuss biomarkers for determining treatment; immune checkpoint inhibitors; when to employ such treatments as platinum/fluoropyrimidine and...
Patients with stage II pancreatic cancer who are treated with chemotherapy followed by resection live nearly twice as long as patients who receive only chemotherapy, according to a recent study published by Amanda K. Arrington, MD, MHM, FACS, and colleagues in the Journal of the American College of ...
The incidence of brain metastasis at diagnosis in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring driver mutations was high, according to findings presented by Rashkit et al at the European Lung Cancer Virtual Congress 2021 (Abstract 38P). However, these patients achieved treatment...