With the investigational checkpoint inhibitor tislelizumab, durable responses were achieved by some patients with previously treated advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, regardless of the number of prior lines of therapy, in the phase II RATIONALE 208 trial. These findings were presented during the...
For the first time, a phase III study has shown an overall survival benefit for upfront treatment using immunotherapy plus chemotherapy in advanced biliary tract cancer. In the TOPAZ-1 trial, the addition of the anti–PD-L1 agent durvalumab to gemcitabine plus cisplatin significantly improved...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Ronan J. Kelly, MB BCh, MBA, of The Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center at Baylor University Medical Center, and colleagues, an interim analysis of the phase III CheckMate 577 trial has shown a significant improvement in disease-free survival with ...
Rona Yaeger, MD, Assistant 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 microsatellite-stable BRAF V600E–mutated metastatic colorectal cancer...
Over the past year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted approval to several novel drugs and new indications for older therapeutic agents used in gastrointestinal oncology. Cetuximab Plus Encorafenib On September 28, 2021, cetuximab (Erbitux) was approved in combination with encorafenib...
Benoit Rousseau, MD, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, called the findings of the phase II GERCOR NIPICOL trial “interesting and convincing.” Long-term follow-up showed the 3-year progression-free survival rate to be 70% after 1 total year of treatment with nivolumab plus...
The phase II GERCOR NIPICOL study evaluated 1 year of treatment with nivolumab plus ipilimumab in patients with chemotherapy-resistant metastatic colorectal cancer whose tumors were microsatellite instability–high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR). With this shortened treatment duration,...
In patients with resectable microsatellite instability–high (MSI-H)/mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) gastric and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma, dual checkpoint inhibition with ipilimumab and nivolumab given as neoadjuvant therapy led to a pathologic complete response rate of 58.6%,...
Invited discussant of the two studies, Elena Élez, MD, PhD, of the Colon Cancer Program, Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology, Barcelona, Spain, discussed the challenge of treating BRAF-mutant colorectal cancer and what the new data bring to that effort. Dr. Élez noted: “BRAF V600E–mutant...
The past year has seen unprecedented progress across the spectrum of gastrointestinal malignances, including the advancement of immunotherapy and targeted molecular agents and the refinement of adjuvant therapy using novel as well as existing therapies. Three themes emerging from these reports are: ...
Reflecting recent significant classification changes and new data on the use of biomarkers to inform treatment for central nervous system tumors, a new guideline offers oncologists up-to-date recommendations for managing gliomas in adults with neurologic cancer.1 “Over the past decade, there have...
Somatic genomic testing should be a routine part of clinical care for many patients with metastatic or advanced solid tumors, according to a new ASCO provisional clinical opinion.1 As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the expert panel found that genomic testing in oncology practice has...
The American Cancer Society (ACS) has named Arif Kamal, MD, MBA, MHS, FACP, FAAHPM, FASCO, as its first Chief Patient Officer to lead its patient support vision and strategic plans to improve the lives of patients with cancer and their families. Based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Dr. Kamal will ...
Raymond N. DuBois, MD, PhD, FAACR, was recently appointed Executive Chairman of the Board of The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research. Dr. DuBois is Director of the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Hollings Cancer Center and Distinguished University Professor at MUSC. As The Mark...
Robert Otto Valdez, PhD, MHSA, was appointed Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in February 2022. He was previously the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Professor Emeritus of Family & Community Medicine and Economics at the University of New Mexico (UNM). In...
David R. Penberthy, MD, MBA, was recently named President of the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) at the organization’s 48th Annual Meeting and Cancer Center Business Summit. Oncology professionals from around the nation gathered at the conference to discuss the convergence of...
Janice Mehnert, MD, was recently named Co-Chair of the ECOG-ACRIN Melanoma Committee, replacing Craig L. Slingluff, MD. Dr. Mehnert is Associate Director for Clinical Research and Director, Melanoma and Cutaneous Medical Oncology at NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center. She specializes in both...
“The value of experience is not in seeing much, but in seeing wisely.” —Sir William Osler To complement The ASCO Post’s continued comprehensive coverage of the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting...
The invited discussant of the CodeBreaK 100 data, E. Gabriela Chiorean, MD, Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Clinical Director of the Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology program at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, found the efficacy...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Jonathan R. Strosberg, MD, of Moffitt Cancer Center, and colleagues, the final overall survival analysis of the phase III NETTER-1 trial has shown an approximately 12-month benefit with the addition of lutetium Lu-177 dotatate to long-acting octreotide in...
Invited discussant Hao G. Nguyen, MD, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco, said: “New treatments are needed for advanced penile cancer. PERICLES is the first randomized trial for patients with stage IV penile cancer treated without chemotherapy. Although this prospective trial...
Gynecologic oncologist and surgeon B.J. Rimel, MD, recently was named Medical Director of the Cedars-Sinai Cancer Clinical Trials Office. She will serve as a medical liaison between clinical trial principal investigators and Cedars-Sinai Cancer leadership to ensure the quality of services provided...
An updated analysis of the phase III KEYNOTE-564 trial continues to support the use of adjuvant pembrolizumab vs placebo in patients with renal cell carcinoma at high risk of recurrence, according to a presentation at the 2022 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.1 At 30 months of follow-up,...
Formal discussant of the ARASENS trial, Elisabeth I. Heath, MD, FACP, Professor of Oncology and Associate Center Director, Translational Sciences, at Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, commented on the changing paradigm in prostate cancer treatment. “The narrative is changing to triplet therapy, ...
Invited discussant Guru P. Sonpavde, MD, Director of the Bladder Cancer Program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, said: “Antibody-drug conjugates are a major weapon in the way forward in bladder cancer…. The EV-103 trial evaluated neoadjuvant therapy with enfortumab vedotin-ejfv, one of two...
Neoadjuvant treatment with the antibody-drug conjugate enfortumab vedotin-ejfv achieved notable antitumor activity in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer who are ineligible for treatment with cisplatin, according to preliminary results for cohort H of the EV-103 trial reported at the 2022...
Enzalutamide is a common first-line choice for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, but response in some patients eventually wanes and then patients are switched to a different treatment. According to the phase IIIb PRESIDE trial, reported at the 2022 ASCO Genitourinary...
The PARP inhibitor olaparib in combination with abiraterone demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in radiographic progression-free survival vs current standard-of-care abiraterone as a first-line treatment for patients with metastatic castration-resistant...
On March 2, 2022, ASCO issued the following statement: “ASCO stands with our Ukrainian members, the worldwide oncology community, and health-care providers around the globe in condemning Russia’s unprovoked war on Ukraine. We call for an immediate cessation of these hostilities and demand full...
Triplet therapy with the oral androgen receptor inhibitor darolutamide plus docetaxel plus androgen-deprivation therapy significantly improved overall survival in patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer vs docetaxel plus androgen-deprivation therapy, according to results of the...
Today, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center launched the James P. Allison Institute, a visionary research and innovation hub within MD Anderson designed to foster groundbreaking science, to develop new treatments, and to bring the benefits of immunotherapy to all patients. The Allison...
The combination of nivolumab plus cabozantinib achieved a continued survival benefit compared with sunitinib in patients with untreated clear cell metastatic or advanced renal cell carcinoma, according to a final overall survival analysis of the phase III CheckMate 9ER trial.1 Additionally,...
Neil E. Fleshner, MD, MPH, of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, discusses phase II results from the ACDC-RP trial, which indicate a significant tumor response to neoadjuvant abiraterone acetate plus prednisone and leuprolide, with or without cabazitaxel, in patients with high-risk prostate...
Although appendectomy is still the most effective treatment for acute appendicitis, nonoperative management is increasingly common, as recent studies—such as one published in November 2020 in The New England Journal of Medicine and a second published in December 2021 in the same journal—have shown...
In patients with breast cancer tumors harboring BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations, inhibitors of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) have emerged as essential therapeutic agents. What more needs to be done to obtain even more benefit from these targeted agents? This question was tackled at the 2022 Miami...
A new therapeutic strategy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) that initially primes the tumor with an immune checkpoint inhibitor before using a multikinase inhibitor has shown efficacy in a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Kikuchi et al reported that the new...
Adjuvant pembrolizumab may improve disease-free survival compared to placebo in patients with early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) following complete resection and adjuvant chemotherapy when indicated, investigators from the PEARLS/KEYNOTE-091 trial reported in a European Society for...
The OlympiA trial of adjuvant olaparib in patients with HER2-negative, high-risk early breast cancer and BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations has demonstrated a significant overall survival benefit, reducing the risk of death over placebo by 32%. Andrew Tutt, MBChB, PhD, Director of Breast Cancer Now at the...
The cost of cancer care is substantially impacting the lives of patients with cancer and survivors, forcing them to make significant lifestyle changes and causing some to incur long-term medical debt. According to a new Survivor Views survey from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network...
The past year has witnessed tremendous advances in genitourinary oncology. I am pleased to review these findings in this year’s Genitourinary Oncology Almanac from The ASCO Post. I hope that you will find this roadmap helpful in highlighting a selection of these exciting developments. Checkpoint...
Enzalutamide is a common first-line choice for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, but response in some patients eventually wanes and then patients are switched to a different treatment. According to the phase IIIb PRESIDE trial, reported at the 2022 ASCO Genitourinary...
Formal discussant of the ARASENS trial, Elisabeth I. Heath, MD, FACP, Professor of Oncology and Associate Center Director, Translational Sciences, at Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, commented on the changing paradigm in prostate cancer treatment. “The narrative is changing to triplet therapy, ...
Triplet therapy with the oral androgen receptor inhibitor darolutamide plus docetaxel plus androgen-deprivation therapy significantly improved overall survival in patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer vs docetaxel plus androgen-deprivation therapy, according to results of the...
Hypofractionated radiotherapy to the prostate bed proved to be noninferior to conventionally fractionated radiotherapy after prostatectomy regarding gastrointestinal and genitourinary side effects, according to the results of the phase III NRG Oncology GU003 trial, presented at the 2021 American...
The addition of 2 years of abiraterone acetate plus prednisolone (AAP) to androgen-deprivation therapy improves metastasis-free survival and overall survival compared with androgen-deprivation therapy alone in men with nonmetastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer, according to a primary...
Invited discussant of the VISION trial, Mary-Ellen Taplin, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, commented on the study, noting that she was a co-investigator of the trial. “Patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer have a number of treatment options. There are 10...
Lutetium-177–PSMA-617 (LuPSMA)—an investigational radiolabeled small molecule—significantly improved radiographic progression-free survival and overall survival when added to the standard of care compared with the standard of care alone for men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer...
An updated analysis of the phase III KEYNOTE-564 trial continues to support the use of adjuvant pembrolizumab vs placebo in patients with renal cell carcinoma at high risk of recurrence, according to a presentation at the 2022 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.1 At 30 months of follow-up,...
Adjuvant pembrolizumab following surgery significantly improved disease-free survival compared with placebo among patients with high-risk clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC), according to the international phase III KEYNOTE-564 study presented at the Plenary session during the 2021 ASCO Annual...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Toni K. Choueiri, MD, of Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and colleagues, the phase III CheckMate 9ER trial has shown that the combination of nivolumab and cabozantinib improved progression-free survival and...