Long-term results of the phase III Mantle Cell Lymphoma Younger Trial were reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Hermine et al. They showed a maintained advantage in time to treatment failure and an overall survival advantage with R-CHOP/R-DHAP (alternating rituximab plus...
On May 25, 2022, ivosidenib was approved for use in combination with azacitidine for newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia with a susceptible IDH1 mutation, as detected by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved test, in patients aged 75 or older or in those who have comorbidities precluding...
Lali Medina-Kauwe, PhD, former Co-Leader of the Cancer Biology Program in Cedars-Sinai Cancer, assumed a new role as Associate Director for Basic Research. The Cancer Biology Program will now be led by Dolores Di Vizio, MD, PhD, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in ...
“I was in bed in the surgical wing of Duke University Hospital when the doctor popped his head in and smiled apologetically before flicking on the fluorescent lights. It was 4:00 AM, the end of my second night in the hospital, but nobody sleeps in the conventional sense,” writes Kate Bowler in the...
Fox Chase Cancer Center was recently awarded a grant for $6 million over the course of 5 years to develop a new Cancer Prevention-Interception Targeted Agent Discovery Program (CAP-IT). The new National Cancer Institute (NCI) program was created to establish a pipeline for the discovery of new...
Although mandates by ASCO and the American Cancer Society to meet the needs of underserved populations have drawn much-needed awareness to the issue, patients with cancer who experience bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and other debilitating mental illnesses continue to experience significantly...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Stephen R.D. Johnston, MD, PhD, and colleagues, an interim analysis of overall survival in the phase III monarchE trial has shown no significant benefit with the addition of adjuvant abemaciclib to endocrine therapy in patients with hormone receptor–positive,...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Nyberg et al developed the risk model CanRisk-Prostate for predicting the development of prostate cancer based on age, detailed cancer family history, moderate- to high-risk pathogenic variants, and a polygenic score for common low-risk...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the targeted imaging agent pafolacianine (Cytalux) for use in lung cancer surgery. This injectable diagnostic binds to cancerous tissue and glows when stimulated by near-infrared light, making it easier for surgeons to remove tumors...
In 2017, I noticed a roadside billboard touting the benefits of low-dose computed tomography (CT) imaging for lung cancer screening. The message probably saved my life. The public service campaign, called Saved by the Scan from the American Lung Association, included an Internet address where I...
Jefferson Health’s Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center (SKCC) recently launched the Geriatric Oncology Center of Excellence to address the needs of a growing patient population through innovative research and care delivery methods via a multidisciplinary approach. The center identifies and removes barriers ...
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 ...
ASCO has elected Robin Zon, MD, FACP, FASCO, a long-time member and volunteer, to lead as its President beginning in June 2024. Dr. Zon will take office as President-Elect immediately following the ASCO Annual Business Meeting in Chicago on June 5, 2023. Five additional members were also elected to ...
Even as they’ve revolutionized cancer treatment, immune checkpoint inhibitors have been shown to produce a range of adverse immune-related side effects. Researchers have now identified inherited genetic variations that may place patients at high risk for complications when undergoing treatment with ...
Gladys Magaly Rodriguez, MD, was born in Piedras Negras, Mexico, a city situated along the banks of the Rio Grande. At age 6, her family immigrated to Eagle Pass, Texas, a border town of some 30,000 people that is predominantly Latinx and Spanish speaking. “Even though I lived and attended school...
On November 10, 2022, tremelimu-mab in combination with durvalumab and platinum-based chemotherapy was approved for patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with no sensitizing EGFR mutation or ALK genomic tumor aberrations.1 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was supported by...
Lymphoma expert Alex Herrera, MD, was born in Miami; his parents were just 19 years old when he was born. Dr. Herrera’s father was born in Puerto Rico to Cuban and Ecuadorian parents. His mother was born in Cuba and came to the United States via Operation Peter Pan, the clandestine program that...
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, signed into law on August 16, 2022, contains several important provisions regarding health care and drug pricing.1 In this article, I provide an overview of the legislation’s implications for oncology care, focusing on its provisions concerning drug price...
In an analysis from the HOPE trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Mina S. Sedrak, MD, MS, and colleagues found that approximately one-fifth of older women with early-stage breast cancer received a relative dose intensity (RDI) of neoadjuvant/adjuvant chemotherapy that was below...
In an analysis from the BMT Survivor Study (BMTSS) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Smita Bhatia, MD, MPH, and colleagues found that survivors of blood or marrow transplantation (BMT) were more likely to have high out-of-pocket medical costs vs comparator siblings during the COVID-19...
In a Swedish study (GÖTEBORG-2) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Hugosson et al found that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-targeted prostate biopsy was associated with a lower risk of overdiagnosis of clinically insignificant prostate cancer compared with MRI-targeted and...
Indiana University (IU) School of Medicine has named Sheri Robb, PhD, a Walther Professor of Supportive Oncology. This is one of five endowed positions to develop a supportive oncology program that encompasses research and patient care. Dr. Robb is a nationally renowned music therapy researcher,...
On November 10, 2022, brentuximab vedotin was approved for use in combination with doxorubicin, vincristine, etoposide, prednisone, and cyclophosphamide for pediatric patients aged ≥ 2 years with previously untreated high-risk classical Hodgkin lymphoma.1 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was...
The final results of the phase III CheckMate 651 trial showed no significant overall survival benefit with first-line nivolumab/ipilimumab vs the EXTREME regimen (cetuximab plus cisplatin or carboplatin plus fluorouracil for up to six cycles, followed by cetuximab maintenance) in recurrent or...
On December 16, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved nadofaragene firadenovec-vncg (Adstiladrin), a nonreplicating adenoviral vector–based gene therapy indicated for the treatment of adult patients with high-risk bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-unresponsive non–muscle-invasive...
An oncolytic therapy delivered within the urinary bladder in combination with pembrolizumab has yielded the “best results seen in the field” in patients with bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-unresponsive bladder cancer, according to data presented during the 2022 Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer...
In a phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Fu et al found that the WEE1 kinase inhibitor adavosertib was active in patients with refractory solid tumors with CCNE1 amplification, with evidence of increased activity in epithelial ovarian cancer. Study Details In the trial, 30...
In a Dutch-Danish phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Rohaan et al found that tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy prolonged progression-free survival vs ipilimumab in patients with advanced melanoma. Study Details The open-label trial included 168 patients...
In a European cohort study (EPI-CT) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Hauptmann et al found an increased risk of brain cancer with increasing brain radiation dose among children and young adults who had undergone computed tomography (CT) scans. Study Details The study used pooled data from nine...
In the Canadian 5C study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Puts et al found that a geriatric assessment and management intervention did not improve quality of life, unplanned health-care use, mortality, or toxicity compared with usual care in patients aged 70 years or older with cancer. ...
Researchers revealed that patients with neuroendocrine cancer overwhelmingly prioritized quality of life over living longer, according to a new study published by Li et al in JNCCN–Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. The researchers surveyed 60 patients with advanced...
Paul G. Richardson, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses preliminary results from the dose-expansion phase of the CC-92480-MM-001 Trial, which showed promising efficacy in patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma, including those with prior BCMA-targeted therapies....
On December 14, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved updated labeling for capecitabine tablets (Xeloda) under Project Renewal, an Oncology Center of Excellence initiative aimed at updating labeling information for certain older oncology drugs to ensure information is clinically...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Surgery, Hammad et al found that adjuvant therapy was associated with better outcomes vs no adjuvant therapy in patients with node-negative disease after neoadjuvant therapy and resection of pancreatic carcinoma. Study Details The study used data...
In updated analyses from the phase III HER2CLIMB trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Nancy U. Lin, MD, and colleagues found that the addition of tucatinib to trastuzumab and capecitabine showed improved outcomes among previously treated patients with HER2-positive breast cancer and baseline brain...
On December 14, U.S. Representative Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA), Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) introduced the Comprehensive Cancer Survivorship Act (CCSA)—legislation that will address...
Investigators revealed that the travel time to the nearest mammography facility may be long for a considerable proportion of patients in the United States, particularly affecting more than 50% of patients in the rural areas of 28 states, according to a new study published by Wiese et al in the...
The novel drug modakafusp alfa has shown early promise in combating relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, according to new findings presented by Vogl et al at the 2022 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition (Abstract 565). Background Modakafusp alfa is a fusion protein...
The novel MinimuMM-seq technique may make it possible to detect tumor cells in individuals at higher risk for multiple myeloma, assess the risk of disease progression in patients with myeloma, and track genetic changes in tumor cells over time from a single blood sample, according to a new study...
Jennifer R. Brown, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses phase III findings of the ALPINE study, which showed that zanubrutinib is more efficacious and better tolerated than ibrutinib as a treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small...
Mark R. Litzow, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, discusses phase III results from the ECOG-ACRIN E1910 Trial, which show that adding blinatumomab to consolidation chemotherapy resulted in a significantly better overall survival in adult patients aged 30 to 70 years with newly diagnosed B-lineage acute...
On December 14, Monica M. FACS, Bertagnolli, MD, FASCO, Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), released the following statement: I was very recently diagnosed with early breast cancer. The prognosis is very favorable. The cancer is hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer...
Richter syndrome is an aggressive lymphoma that develops in up to 1% of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and it serves as an example of histologic transformation. While recent advances have transformed the treatment landscape of CLL, Richter syndrome remains associated with poor...
Zanubrutinib showed superior efficacy to ibrutinib—with fewer side effects—in the first head-to-head comparison between the Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors among patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL), according to data presented by Jennifer...
A novel study evaluating the addition of venetoclax to the intensive chemotherapy regimen of cladribine, idarubicin, and cytarabine as a front-line therapy demonstrated high rates of disease control and remissions in younger patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and high-risk...
A new phase II trial demonstrated that the chemotherapy-free regimen of ponatinib and blinatumomab may have achieved high response rates and reduced the need for an allogeneic stem cell transplant for patients with recently diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome–positive (Ph+) acute lymphoblastic...
Researchers observed encouraging response rates in older or high-risk patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) when treated with the triplet combination therapy of azacitidine, venetoclax, and magrolimab in a phase I/II trial, according to new findings presented by Daver et al at...
The bispecific T-cell engager molecule blinatumomab was found to improve overall survival for patients with no measurable residual disease (MRD) after initial treatment for B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), according to the phase III ECOG-ACRIN E1910 trial presented by Litzow et al at...
The use of a simplified treatment regimen by oncologists—along with management recommendations and 24/7 support provided by a limited and dedicated group of academic disease experts—resulted in a decrease in early deaths from acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). In the multicenter prospective trial...
The chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy axicabtagene ciloleucel was deemed safe and showed encouraging signs of efficacy in a small pilot trial involving patients with lymphoma of the brain and/or spinal cord, according to findings presented by Caron A. Jacobson, MD, MMSc, and colleagues ...