The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved sonidegib (Odomzo) for the treatment of patients with locally advanced basal cell carcinoma that has recurred following surgery or radiation therapy or those who are not candidates for surgery or radiation therapy. The approval was based on...
In the phase III SQUIRE trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Thatcher et al found that the addition of the second-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) antibody necitumumab to first-line gemcitabine-cisplatin improved overall survival among patients with stage IV squamous...
In the phase II BOLT trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Migden et al found that the hedgehog pathway signaling inhibitor sonidegib produced responses in patients with locally advanced or metastatic basal cell carcinoma at 200-mg and 800-mg dose levels. The lower dose appeared to be associated...
In a phase II study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Phan et al found that the VEGFR-1, -2, -3 inhibitor pazopanib (Votrient) plus depot octreotide produced responses in patients with advanced well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors. No responses were observed in patients with carcinoid tumors....
In the phase III ARTemis trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Earl et al found that the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to standard neoadjuvant therapy resulted in a higher pathologic complete response rate in women with HER2-negative early breast cancer. Study Details In this open-label...
A large, phase III international study of the oral agent TAS-102 in patients with heavily pretreated metastatic colorectal cancer has found that the therapy improved overall survival by 1.8 months and also delayed disease progression. TAS-102 had few side effects and was also effective in patients...
In an Italian randomized phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Pignata et al found that the addition of the antiangiogenic multikinase inhibitor pazopanib (Votrient) to weekly paclitaxel significantly improved progression-free survival in patients with platinum-resistant/refractory...
In the first randomized trial to compare two U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved immune checkpoint inhibitors as first-line therapy for patients with advanced melanoma, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) yielded significantly better treatment outcomes than ipilimumab (Yervoy) for all endpoints...
In the phase III INSPIRE trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Paz-Ares et al found that the addition of the anti-EGFR IgG1 monoclonal antibody necitumumab to first-line pemetrexed (Alimta)-cisplatin did not improve overall survival in patients with previously untreated stage IV nonsquamous...
In an Italian Sarcoma Group phase II study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Grignani et al found that the combination of sorafenib (Nexavar) and everolimus (Afinitor) was active in unresectable high-grade osteosarcoma progressing after standard treatment, but did not produce the study goal of ≥...
A phase I trial of the first drug designed to inhibit the cancer-causing activity of a mutated enzyme known as isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) 1, which is involved in cell metabolism, has shown clinical activity in patients with advanced acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with the IDH1 mutation. The...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track designation for Taiho Oncology’s TAS-102, a novel agent currently under investigation for the treatment of refractory metastatic colorectal cancer. TAS-102 is an oral combination investigational anticancer drug consisting of...
In a phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, du Bois et al found that maintenance therapy with the VEGFR and PDGFR inhibitor pazopanib (Votrient) significantly prolonged progression-free survival vs placebo in women with ovarian cancer without progression after first-line...
In the phase III international AFFIRM trial, enzalutamide (Xtandi) was shown to improve overall survival vs placebo in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer after progression on docetaxel. In an analysis of secondary endpoints reported in The Lancet Oncology, Fizazi et al found...
The effect of neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy in early-stage esophageal cancer is not clear. In the phase III FFCD 9901 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Mariette et al found that neoadjuvant chemoradiation including fluorouracil (5-FU) and cisplatin did not improve R0...
Recent retrospective, single-institution analyses have suggested that anatomic segmentectomy results in freedom from recurrence and survival rates similar to those achieved by lobectomy in lung cancer. In a large propensity-matched analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Landreneau...
In a Danish cohort study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Rugbjerg and colleagues found that survivors of adolescent and young adult cancer are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease throughout life, with cardiovascular disease profiles differing according to cancer...
The addition of sorafenib (Nexavar) to yttrium-90 radioembolization was associated with higher rates of biliary complications and potentially more acute rejections prior to transplantation in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, according to the results of a prospective randomized pilot study....
A crossover trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Escudier et al found that patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma preferred pazopanib (Votrient) vs sunitinib (Sutent) treatment. Study Details In the double-blind study, 168 patients with no prior systemic therapy for...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Stattin et al found that rates of prostate cancer mortality, excess mortality in men with prostate cancer, and metastatic prostate cancer were lower in counties in Sweden with higher vs lower incidence of prostate cancer that...
Research by Viprey et al has found that the detection of neuroblastoma mRNAs in peripheral blood and bone marrow aspirates from children diagnosed with stage IV neuroblastoma are independent predictors of event-free survival and overall survival. Their findings could help identify children with...
Dasatinib (Sprycel) resulted in “faster and deeper responses” compared to imatinib (Gleevec) among patients with newly diagnosed chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), according to a 3-year follow-up of the randomized phase III DASISION (Dasatinib vs Imatinib Safety In...
High plasma levels of vitamin B12 (cobalamin) have been reported in patients with cancer of different types. In a Danish study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Arendt et al assessed cancer risk in subjects presenting with elevated cobalamin. They found that cancer risk...
In a letter to The New England Journal of Medicine, Ségolène Hescot, MD, of Université Paris Descartes, and colleagues reported evidence of irreversible pancreatic atrophy in two patients after long-term sorafenib treatment. Both patients received cumulative doses of sorafenib...
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, the manufacturer of ipilimumab (Yervoy), released results from its phase III randomized double-blind study investigating the drug in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. The study findings show that ipilimumab, a monoclonal antibody that blocks the ...
Syndax Pharmaceuticals Inc today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has designated entinostat as a Breakthrough Therapy for the treatment of locally recurrent or metastatic estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer when added to exemestane in postmenopausal women whose...
The investigational agent brivanib is a selective dual inhibitor of VEGF and fibroblast growth factor receptors, both implicated in hepatocellular carcinoma. In a trial (BRISK-PS) reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Josep M. Llovet, MD, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New...
The investigational drug brivanib is a dual inhibitor of VEGF and fibroblast growth factor signaling, both implicated in hepatocellular carcinoma. In a noninferiority trial (BRISK-FL) reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Philip J. Johnson, MD, of the Institute of Translational Medicine,...
Obinutuzumab is a type II, glycoengineered, humanized anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody. In the phase II GAUGUIN studies reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology by Franck Andre Morschhauser, MD, PhD of Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire de Lille and Gilles A. Salles, MD, PhD, of Hospices ...
Genomic heterogeneity within tumors and among lesions varies widely, and “discordance among lesions could lead to the selection of the ‘incorrect’ targeted inhibitor,” according to David B. Solit, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, who spoke at the ASCO/American...
A phase III clinical trial has found that pazopanib (Votrient), an oral multikinase inhibitor, extends disease-free survival by an average of 5.6 months, compared to placebo, in women with advanced ovarian cancer who had initial successful treatment with surgery and chemotherapy. “Our...
A new clinical trial is testing whether targeting treatments to a genetic anomaly can lead to better treatments for castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer. The trial, led by investigators at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, is being conducted at 11 sites throughout...
The President has released his proposed budget for fiscal year 2014, which proposes new reductions for cancer care services. Taken in combination with existing strains imposed by sequestration, this proposal threatens access to care for some of America's most vulnerable: elderly patients with ...
Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues at the University of Florida studied health-care providers to determine the factors associated with disparities in human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination among girls, ages 9 to 17, from low-income families. They found that physician vaccination...