In a new study published by Merritt et al in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, researchers demonstrated that sex hormones and insulin growth factors may be associated with recurrence risk in patients with endometrial cancer. The findings suggest endocrine-targeted therapies and an...
Regular mammography screening substantially reduces the risk of dying from breast cancer, according to a large study of over half a million women published by Stephen W. Duffy, MSc, and colleagues in the journal Radiology. Researchers said women who skipped even one scheduled mammography screening...
Patients with lymphoma hospitalized for severe COVID-19 infection were at higher risk for prolonged hospital stay and death if they were treated with B-cell–depleting therapies (eg, rituximab, obinutuzumab) within the previous 12 months. The risk of persistent COVID-19 infection was also higher in...
In 2020, ASCO established the Steering Group on Cancer Care Delivery and Research in a Post-Pandemic Environment to evaluate the changes made in oncology care delivery, clinical research, and regulatory oversight in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as to make recommendations on how to...
In the phase II SWOG 1500 study reported in The Lancet, Pal et al found that among three comparator MET kinase inhibitors, cabozantinib prolonged progression-free survival vs sunitinib in metastatic papillary renal cell carcinoma. Study Details In the open-label trial, 147 eligible patients from...
At the 2021 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, Motzer et al presented the clinical results of the CLEAR trial, adding a novel regimen, lenvatinib plus pembrolizu-mab, to the growing armamentarium of first-line treatments for patients with metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The...
As reported in The Lancet by Sezer et al, the phase III EMPOWER-Lung 1 trial has shown improved overall and progression-free survival with cemiplimab-rwlc vs platinum doublet chemotherapy among patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with PD-L1 expression on ≥ 50% of tumor cells...
Each year, following the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), The ASCO Post asks Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, to offer his picks of the most important and most clinically relevant research presented at this meeting. The following are summaries of studies that caught Dr. Abraham’s attention from ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by McDermott et al, findings in a cohort of the phase II KEYNOTE-427 study showed that pembrolizumab monotherapy produced durable responses as first-line treatment for advanced non–clear cell renal cell carcinoma. In a separate cohort of the study,...
Every year, significant amounts of drugs left over and unused from single-dose vials are discarded, but because of the way drugs are priced and paid for in the United States, the cost of the discarded amount cannot be recouped, according to a new congressionally mandated report from the National...
In the days and weeks leading up to President Biden’s inauguration, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)—under the prior administration—issued a number of rules and regulations that affect cancer care delivery. Many of those rules and regulations are now subject to review by the new...
In case you missed these while attending the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, below is a sampler of highlights that were not included in our first round of meeting coverage. Many of these reports are on early-phase clinical trials of agents that may raise...
The ASCO Post is pleased to continue this occasional special focus on the worldwide cancer burden. In this issue, we feature a close look at the cancer incidence and mortality rates in Kenya. The aim of this special feature is to highlight the global cancer burden for various countries of the...
Invited discussant of KEYNOTE-598,1Yun Fan, MD, Director of Thoracic Tumor Center at Zhejiang Cancer Hospital in Hangzhou, China, suggested that patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with low PD-L1 expression and those with high tumor mutational burden may, in fact, derive the most...
The risk of developing or dying of a new primary cancer, particularly those cancers associated with smoking and obesity, was greater among survivors of adult-onset cancers than the expected risk in the general population, according to an analysis of data from more than 1.5 million cancer...
In the phase III KEYNOTE-598 study, the addition of ipilimumab to pembrolizumab increased toxicity without boosting efficacy as first-line therapy for metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in patients with high expression of PD-L1. The findings were presented at the International...
An imposing painting of sailing ships graced the wall behind the desk in the office of Professor Gordon McVie, BSc (Hons), MBChB, MD, FRCP, FRCPEd, FRCPS (Glas), FMedSci, DSc. It was a gift from one of his patients with cancer, a long-term survivor who said the painting reminded her of him, walking ...
Legendary oncologist Emil J Freireich, MD, FASCO, died from COVID-19 on February 1, 2021, at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where he had worked for 50 years. He was 93. During a career that spanned more than 6 decades, Dr. Freireich was relentless in pursuing cures...
Pooled results of two phase I studies, reported in The Lancet by Reuben Benjamin, MBBS, of the Department of Haematological Medicine, King’s College Hospital, London, and colleagues, indicate that the genome-edited donor-derived allogeneic anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell product...
To complement The ASCO Post’s continued comprehensive coverage of the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on novel therapeutic approaches in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). For full...
Invited study discussant Rachna T. Shroff, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Arizona, and Chief of GI Medical Oncology at the University of Arizona Cancer Center, said the study presented by Dr. Javle1 showed the FGFR2 inhibitor infigratinib to be active in FGFR2 fusion–positive...
The novel targeted agent infigratinib (BGJ398) showed clinically meaningful activity against chemotherapy-refractory cholangiocarcinoma in patients with fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR2) fusions and rearrangements. The confirmed overall response rate was 23% (34% confirmed/unconfirmed), the ...
To complement The ASCO Post’s continued comprehensive coverage of the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on the assessment and treatment of patients with B-cell and T-cell non-Hodgkin...
The invited discussant of CodeBreak 100 was Pasi A. Jänne, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a thoracic oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston.1Charu Aggarwal, MD, MPH, Leslye M. Heisler Associate Professor for Lung Cancer Excellence at the University of...
The registrational phase II CodeBreak 100 trial has validated the power of KRAS inhibition with sotorasib (AMG 510) in advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).1 In a follow-up to the groundbreaking findings of the phase I trial, the phase II cohort has now shown a durable response rate of...
In an analysis from the STAMPEDE trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Ali et al found that a lower number of bone metastases was associated with improved overall and failure-free survival in patients receiving prostate radiotherapy for newly diagnosed M1 metastatic prostate cancer. Study Details The...
In a phase II signal-seeking trial (ECOG-ACRIN E1412) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Grzegorz S. Nowakowski, MD, and colleagues found that the addition of lenalidomide (R) to R-CHOP (rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone; R2CHOP) improved outcomes...
Data from the TAILORx study and several National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) trials have been used to develop a new prognostic tool, RSClin, which aims to individualize the estimate of recurrence risk in early breast cancer and to more accurately predict the risk-reduction...
In the phase III MITO16b/MANGO–OV2/ENGOT–ov17 trial, investigators found that treatment with a carboplatin-based doublet plus bevacizumab beyond disease progression significantly improved progression-free survival vs a carboplatin-based doublet alone in women with platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer...
The randomized phase II NEOSTAR trial, which examined single-agent and combined neoadjuvant immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy in patients with stage I to III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), found combination therapy produced a significant clinical benefit (as assessed by major pathologic...
In the phase III SEQUOIA trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, J. Randolph Hecht, MD, and colleagues found that the addition of pegilodecakin—a pegylated recombinant human interleukin (IL)-10—to FOLFOX (leucovorin, fluorouracil [5-FU], and oxaliplatin) did not improve overall survival ...
In an individual patient-level meta-analysis of two phase III trials reported in The Lancet Oncology, Choudhury et al found that a hypofractionated radiotherapy regimen was associated with improved invasive locoregional control and similar toxicity vs a standard fractionation regimen in patients...
In a phase III German Hodgkin Study Group trial (GHSG HD17) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Peter Borchmann, MD, and colleagues found that positron-emission tomography (PET)-guided omission of consolidation radiotherapy was associated with noninferior progression-free survival among patients with...
Ruxolitinib was superior to best available therapy in achieving efficacy as determined by best overall response and duration of response, with acceptable safety in adolescents and adults with steroid-dependent or steroid-refractory chronic graft-vs-host disease effects. These findings were shown in ...
Stem cell transplants are not frequently offered to older patients with high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). According to a study from the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMTCTN 1102), these patients may indeed achieve a survival benefit from stem cell transplant. As...
A post hoc analysis of the phase II DREAMM-2 trial showed single-agent belantamab mafodotin-blmf to be efficacious and tolerable in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma treated with at least three prior therapies, investigators reported at the 2020 American Society of Hematology...
Belantamab mafodotin-blmf combined with pomalidomide and dexamethasone led to a very good partial response (VGPR) or better in approximately three-quarters of patients with multiple myeloma that was double-class or triple-class refractory, according to Suzanne Trudel, MSc, MD, FRCPC, of Princess...
Ajay K. Nooka, MD, MPH, FACP, Associate Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Emory University and Medical Director, Winship Research Informatics Shared Resource at Winship Cancer Institute, Atlanta, considered the presentations on bispecific T-cell–engaging antibodies in myeloma to be...
B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) is the most frequent target of immunotherapies in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, but bispecific T-cell–engaging antibodies with novel targets are also achieving promising results. Studies presented at the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual...
The first phase III study to evaluate the subcutaneous form of daratumumab has met its primary endpoint, investigators of the APOLLO trial reported at the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition.1 The triplet of daratumumab, pomalidomide, and low-dose dexamethasone ...
Despite the marked efficacy of ibrutinib, acalabrutinib, and venetoclax in chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL), treatment failure can occur through the development of resistance. In addition, patients in whom Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors and BCL2...
Selinexor: On December 18, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved selinexor (Xpovio) in combination with bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone for the treatment of adult patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least one prior therapy. Venetoclax: On October 16,...
In the phase II ZUMA-5 trial, the cellular immunotherapy axicabtagene ciloleucel led to responses in 92% of patients with indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), researchers reported at the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition.1 Axicabtagene ciloleucel has improved ...
Results from a phase II study presented by Nicholas J. Short, MD, and colleagues at the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition showed that first-line treatment with a regimen of chemotherapy combined with the monoclonal antibody blinatumomab resulted in increased...
Since the introduction of imatinib almost 18 years ago, similar next-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors have been approved for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), including dasatinib, nilotinib, bosutinib, and ponatinib. These drugs attack a similar target, making it more likely that resistance to...
The world of hematologic malignancies continues to move forward at a robust pace despite the challenges of the COVID era. Although some areas of clinical trials and basic research suffered short-term stoppages or delays due to the pandemic, the studies presented at the 2020 American Society of...
Men who have had treatment for early-stage testicular cancer may benefit from fewer monitoring scans, freeing them from some of the harmful radiation that comes from computerized tomography (CT) imaging, according to results from the phase III TRISST clinical trial presented by Joffe et al at the...
In the midst of growing concerns that patients with cancer have limited access to the COVID-19 vaccines, the Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), the advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, issued a joint letter to every...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Michael Boyer, MBBS, PhD, and colleagues, an interim analysis in the phase III KEYNOTE-598 trial showed no improvement in overall or progression-free survival with the addition of ipilimumab to pembrolizumab in previously untreated patients with...
In a Japanese phase III trial (JCOG1007; iPACS) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kanemitsu et al found that the addition of primary tumor resection to chemotherapy did not improve overall survival vs chemotherapy alone in patients with asymptomatic primary colorectal cancer tumors and...