The new anti-CD20 monocolonal antibody obinutuzumab is being studied in the treatment of patients with relapsed CD20-positive indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. GAUSS is the first clinical trial to compare obinutuzumab head-to-head against rituximab (Rituxan) induction therapy. “In this first...
The findings of RESORT1 have tremendous implications, both clinically and economically, commented Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, Chief of the Lymphoma Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, in an interview. “The maintenance arm received rituximab [Rituxan] every 3 months...
For patients with low–tumor-burden follicular lymphoma treated upfront with rituximab (Rituxan), retreating upon disease progression was as effective as extended dosing, or maintenance therapy, in a randomized phase III study that compared the approaches.1 Given the excellent outcomes, lack of a...
In patients with previously untreated follicular lymphoma, similar outcomes were achieved with CHOP-R (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone, plus six doses of rituximab [Rituxan]) and CHOP-RIT (CHOP plus one dose of tositumomab/iodine-131 tositumomab [Bexxar]) in a phase III...
Although head and neck cancer remains a major therapeutic challenge, significant advances have been made over the past few decades. The ASCO Post recently spoke with Marshall R. Posner, MD, Medical Director of the Head and Neck Oncology Program, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, about the...
Adding thalidomide (Thalomid) to the third-generation chemotherapy doublet of paclitaxel and carboplatin and radiation for patients with stage III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) increased toxicities but did not improve survival. These results from the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG)...
Findings presented at the 2012 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium will impact the future care of patients with these malignancies. The ASCO Post has summarized some of the most newsworthy data in the following briefs. In the phase III GRANITE-1 trial (n = 656), single-agent treatment with...
Patient and tumor characteristics can stratify women with breast cancer and a BRCA mutation into groups having different risks of contralateral disease, which may help tailor follow-up, suggests a study of more than 5,000 women in the Netherlands. Confirming findings of other studies, the study...
In the ongoing debate over how to control rising cancer care costs, it is vital to identify usage patterns of expensive new technologies. A recent study examined the relationship between Medicare reimbursement and the increasing use of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT).1 The ASCO Post...
The survival advantage conferred by adding oxaliplatin to adjuvant chemotherapy with fluorouracil (5-FU) in stage III colon cancer, as previously shown in patients in randomized controlled trials, extends to patients in the general population, including older and minority group patients and those...
Talon Therapeutics, Inc, announced the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted 7 yes, 4 no, and 2 abstain that evidence from clinical studies supports a favorable benefit-risk assessment for use of vincristine sulfate liposomes injection (Marqibo). The manufacturer is seeking an indication for the ...
The ASCO provisional clinical opinion on palliative care recently published1 was based largely on data from seven published randomized controlled trials, including a phase III lung cancer trial by Temel and colleagues, which was the trigger for the new recommendations.2 The trial’s principal...
Mutations in the KRAS oncogene play a critical role in cancer cell growth and resistance to treatment. In colorectal cancer, the presence of any mutant amino acid substitution in the K-Ras protein predicts a poorer response to targeted therapy. In non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), however, there...
According to Seth P. Lerner, MD, Professor in the Scott Department of Urology at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, and Co-chair of the session at the Genitourinary Cancers Symposium where the study by Mak and colleagues was presented, the data clearly demonstrate proof of principle that the...
Combined-modality therapy provides a bladder-sparing alternative to radical cystectomy with comparable outcomes in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, according to a pooled analysis of six Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) trials.1 The study included 468 patients and showed that...
Subset analysis of the AVAGAST trial, which evaluated the benefit of bevacizumab (Avastin) in advanced gastric cancer, has demonstrated distinct differences in outcomes according to disease subtype, reported Manish A. Shah, MD, of Weill Cornell Medical College and New York Presbyterian Hospital, at ...
ASCO has released a provisional clinical opinion (PCO) addressing the integration of palliative care services into standard oncology care.1 The ASCO Post recently spoke with one of the PCO’s lead authors, Thomas J. Smith, MD, Director of Palliative Care for Johns Hopkins Medicine and the Johns...
The synergy between industry, academic research, and regulatory bodies will play an increasingly important role in ensuring the future of a robust cancer drug pipeline. To gain insight on oncologic development trends, The ASCO Post recently spoke with Jean Pierre Bizzari, MD, Head of Global...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology have become the most widely used guidelines in oncology practice. The Guidelines cover 97% of all patients with cancer and are continually updated by expert panels. The 2012 Guidelines include some completely...
MAY AUA Annual MeetingMay 19-23 • Atlanta, Georgia For more information: www.aua2012.org Keystone Symposia: The Role of Inflammation during CarcinogenesisMay 20-25 • Dublin, Ireland For more information: www.keystonesymposia.org JUNE Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Primer on Tumor Immunology...
Advances in understanding cancer on a molecular level and the identification of subgroups of cancer patients with rare diseases are expected to have an effect on drug development and supply. “The vision of what cancer care will be like in the future is this very precise personalized care, where...
Cisplatin-based adjuvant therapy is recommended for patients with resected stage II–IIIA non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). There have been no trials of adjuvant therapy in elderly patients with NSCLC, who constitute a large part of the NSCLC population. A number of analyses indicate that older...
Three new studies have added data to the growing evidence that low-dose, daily aspirin helps prevent colorectal cancer and other malignancies and may be useful in preventing metastases as well.1-3 Coming on the heels of other recent studies, the results appear to strengthen the case for using...
A recent press briefing moderated by Phil B. Fontanarosa, MD, MBA, Executive Editor, JAMA, presented new findings on comparative effectiveness research, and two of the studies discussed focused on cancer. Dr. Fontanarosa started by defining comparative effectiveness research, which gained...
Tetsuya Mitsudomi, MD, PhD, of Aichi Cancer Center Hospital in Nagoya, Japan, discussed the study presented by Tsao and colleagues1 and said that many previous trials have already shown that EGFR mutation is the most reliable predictive marker for treatment with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors....
Patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) should receive treatment with erlotinib (Tarceva) before receiving standard chemotherapy only if their tumor is known to harbor EGFR mutations, researchers reported at the 3rd European Lung Cancer Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.1 The...
Commenting on the study, David Carbone, MD, PhD, of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, said that the Spanish group studied tumors from patients with completely resected stage I and II NSCLC for gene RNA expression profiles using 41,000 different probes. “Since over one-half of these patients...
A new genetic signature identified by Spanish researchers may provide robust and objective information about which patients with completely resected early stage non-small cell lung cancer are at low or high risk of relapse following surgery, according to Florentino Hernando, MD, who presented the...
A study by the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) reported that 5-year survival for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) among children treated through COG clinical trials increased from 83.7% during the period 1990-1994 to 90.4% in the period 2000-2005. The improvements in survival were observed among...
Immunotherapeutic approaches, including vaccines, a monoclonal antibody, and a combination of low-dose interleukin (IL)-2 (Proleukin) and retinoic acid, are showing some success in clinical trials investigating the prevention of breast cancer recurrence in women at high risk, the treatment of...
JUNE World Conference on Interventional OncologyJune 14-17 • Chicago, Illinois For more information: www.wcio2012.org Emerging Strategies in Treatment of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Head & Neck CancerJune 16 • Atlanta, Georgia For more information: http://cancernetus.com 8th Central European ...
I was interested to see an article about the continuing declines in cancer death rates featured in the April 15 issue of The ASCO Post (page 94), as I have just published a paper on breast cancer mortality rates.1 Although overall breast cancer mortality rates have decreased significantly, a much...
In the past decade, “screening for distress has been positioned as the sixth vital sign in cancer care, in addition to the first five, which are measurements of pulse, respiration, blood pressure, temperature, and pain,” according to a review article in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Although...
“Pain is as prevalent in ambulatory oncology patients with common solid tumors as it was more than 20 years ago, despite the fact that opioid prescribing in the United States has increased more than 10-fold since 1990,” according to results of a study among 3,023 ambulatory patients with cancer...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. Indication In January 2012, glucarpidase injection (Voraxaze) was...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. Indication The CD20-directed monoclonal antibody rituximab...
This past May, a collaborative think tank of researchers was convened at The Ohio State University, Columbus, to share their expertise in a somewhat older treatment that is reemerging on many fronts: photodynamic therapy. Participants from the United States, Great Britain, and Japan took part in...
Plasma vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) and tumor neuropilin-1 “are strong biomarker candidates for predicting clinical outcome in patients with advanced gastric cancer” after treatment with bevacizumab (Avastin). This was the conclusion of a mandatory biomarker program following up on ...
The benefit from platinum-based adjuvant chemotherapy in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was demonstrated in four randomized trials (International Adjuvant Lung Cancer Trial [IALT], Canadian JBR.10 trial, Cancer and Leukemia Group B [CALGB] 9633 trial, and Adjuvant Navelbine International...
Over 1,300 breast surgeons attended the 13th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Breast Surgeons, held May 2–6 in Phoenix. Presentations included investigations on recurrence after lumpectomy, gender differences in breast cancer, and the potential role of infrared thermography in diagnosing...
Michael P. Link, MD, 2011–2012 President of ASCO and a pediatric oncologist himself (at Stanford University School of Medicine and the Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford), said the crizotinib study by Mosse and colleagues has far-ranging implications. “The molecular driver (ALK)...
The value of the targeted agent crizotinib (Xalkori) may not be restricted to the 5% of patients with non–small cell lung cancer who have abnormalities in the ALK gene. In a phase I study conducted by the Children’s Oncology Group consortium, crizotinib halted tumor growth and, in some cases,...
Over the past 2 decades, we have seen a substantial increase in the 5-year survival of patients with stage II and III colon cancer, marking an evolving oncologic success story. However, in the postoperative setting, the value of regular CT screening to monitor for recurrence has been greeted with...
In the News focuses on media reports that your patients may have questions about at their next visit. This continuing column will provide summaries of articles in the popular press that may prompt such questions, as well as comments from colleagues in the field. “A simple blood test.” These were...
Commending the investigators for their undertaking, Mark Gilbert, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said, “Perseverance and analysis of long-term outcomes lead to practice-changing findings and important insights.” He pointed out that two randomized trials...
Adjuvant chemotherapy with PCV (procarbazine [Matulane], lomustine [CeeNU], and vincristine) following standard radiation therapy delayed disease progression and increased survival in patients with a relatively rare type of brain tumor called anaplastic oligodendroglioma. A subgroup analysis found...
Michael Williams, MD, the Byrd S. Leavell Professor of Medicine and Chief of Hematologic Malignancies at the University of Virginia Cancer Center, Charlottesville, commented, “Bendamustine/rituximab provides equivalent or better responses vs R-CHOP [rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin,...
Updated results of the StiL NHL1 study, presented at the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting Plenary Session, showed that bendamustine plus rituximab (Rituxan) more than doubled the median progression-free survival, compared with the standard R-CHOP regimen (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin,...
As the world’s most common cancer among women, and the most likely reason around the globe that a woman will die of cancer, breast cancer affects countries at all economic levels. Despite the common misconception that breast cancer is primarily a problem of high-income countries, the majority of...
Survivors of childhood cancer, particularly those treated for childhood Hodgkin lymphoma or Wilms tumor with abdominal radiation, procarbazine (Matulane), and platinum chemotherapy, are at an increased risk of developing gastrointestinal subsequent malignant neoplasms, according to a retrospective...