Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded the indication for ribociclib (Kisqali) in combination with an aromatase inhibitor for premenopausal or perimenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer as initial...
At the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), the International Breast Cancer Study Group (IBCSG) and its collaborators presented the 8-year updates of the key modern trials of ovarian function suppression after local treatment for young women with resected breast cancer.1 These updates...
At the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting, investigators presented long-term follow-up data for immunotherapy in patients with Merkel cell carcinoma and new data for its use in the neoadjuvant setting. The results drew high interest from attendees and a number of questions were raised following the...
Two pancreatic cancer specialists commented on the PREOPANC-1 study for The ASCO Post: Colin D. Weekes, MD, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, who had discussed the abstract at the ASCO Annual Meeting, and Manish A. Shah, MD, FASCO, Chief of the Solid Tumor...
The American Cancer Society (ACS) is outlining its vision for cancer control in the decades ahead in a series of articles that began publishing in early July in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. The series of articles forms the basis of a national cancer control plan, with a blueprint...
Veterans with cancer who receive treatment from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will now have easier access to clinical trials of novel cancer treatments, thanks to an agreement between the VA and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health. The NCI...
Men with advanced cancer are 30% less likely than women to consider palliative care, according to a University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) study. Researchers believe the findings reflect social norms about gender roles, as well as widespread messages in the media and society about...
Following concerns over many years that hormonal stimulation of the ovaries necessary for in vitro fertilization (IVF) may increase the risk of ovarian cancer, a nationwide cohort study from Denmark has now concluded that any perceived increase in risk is actually a statistical bias resulting from...
TREVOR ROYCE, MS, MD, MPH, and Sheetal Kircher, MD, are the 2018–2019 ASCO Health Policy Fellows. Now entering its third year, the fellowship program offers oncologists the opportunity to gain the knowledge, skills, and experience necessary to shape regulatory and legislative policies that directly ...
In my area of research, lung cancer, precision medicine is indeed transforming the treatment of this disease and has important implications for other cancers and for the future of our patients with cancer. Today’s achievement of being able to systematically identify genomic changes that can be...
THE CARNEGIE CORPORATION of New York named University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Professor Antoni Ribas, MD, an honoree as part of its Great Immigrants Initiative, a program honoring a selected group of naturalized citizens who have made notable contributions to the progress of American...
TUMOR MUTATIONAL burden is emerging as a predictive biomarker for the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), as well as other tumor types. However, experts say tumor mutational burden has hurdles to overcome. At the 2018 Annual Meeting of...
IN AN UPDATE of a phase I trial, a heavily pretreated population of patients with multiple myeloma continued to respond to the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy bb2121.1 The results presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting confirmed previous findings for bb2121 in the dose-escalation...
IN PATIENTS with advanced breast cancer harboring a PIK3CA mutation, the addition of the PI3 kinase (PI3K) inhibitor taselisib to endocrine therapy with fulvestrant (Faslodex) significantly improved progression-free survival compared with fulvestrant alone, in the international phase III SANDPIPER...
ATEZOLIZUMAB (TECENTRIQ) plus bevacizumab (Avastin) plus a platinum doublet (ABCP) improved overall survival by 22% compared with bevacizumab plus a platinum doublet (BCP) in patients with advanced wild-type (without an identified mutation) nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according...
Imagine health care in the not too distant future… JOHN IS GOING about his usual Saturday at home, when his health-care–enabled smart watch alerts him to a sudden rise in his heart rate. As he is wondering about the reason, he feels a sharp pain in his left lower quadrant. The tachycardia...
To dig a bit deeper into some of the issues touched upon in the new book, The Key to Prostate Cancer: 30 Experts Explain 15 Stages of Prostate Cancer, The ASCO Post recently spoke with the author, Mark Scholz, MD. Dr. Scholz is a medical oncologist who exclusively treats men with prostate cancer....
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center researchers have published a new guide to help clinicians navigate a recent revolution in care for advanced Merkel cell carcinoma. The guide was published in JNCCN–Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, and it accompanies NCCN’s new...
Eight years ago, I was having a series of colds I couldn’t shake and pain that radiated throughout my back. Still, my symptoms weren’t concerning until, on Halloween morning in 2010, I stepped out of bed and fell to the floor in excruciating pain, unable to move. A visit to the emergency room and a ...
Christine M. Eischen, PhD, Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Cancer Biology at Thomas Jefferson University and co-leader of the Molecular Biology & Genetics Program at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, was recently invested as the inaugural Herbert A. Rosenthal, MD ’56 Professor in ...
GUEST EDITOR Integrative Oncology is guest edited by Jun J. Mao, MD, MSCE, Laurance S. Rockefeller Chair in Integrative Medicine and Chief, Integrative Medicine Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York. “Mindfulness” has gained significant popularity in the lay press in recent...
To address a growing risk of endocrine disorders among childhood cancer survivors, the Endocrine Society has published the “Hypothalamic-Pituitary and Growth Disorders in Survivors of Childhood Cancer: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline,” advising...
GUEST EDITOR Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology explores the unique physical, psychosocial, social, emotional, sexual, and financial challenges adolescents and young adults with cancer face. The column is guest edited by Brandon Hayes-Lattin, MD, FACP, Associate Professor of Medicine and Medical...
The phase III IMpassion130 study has met its co-primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS). Results demonstrated that the combination of atezolizumab (Tecentriq) plus nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane) as first-line treatment significantly reduced the risk of disease worsening or death in patients...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for Priority Review a supplemental new drug application (sNDA) for ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in combination with rituximab (Rituxan) as a new treatment option for Waldenström's macroglobulinemia. If approved, the sNDA would expand the...
The phase III IMpower133 study recently met its coprimary endpoints of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) at its first interim analysis. The study demonstrated that first-line treatment with the combination of atezolizumab (Tecentriq) plus chemotherapy (carboplatin and...
The lungs can be a difficult organ to biopsy with a needle, so the promise of identifying lung cancer through a blood-based biopsy has lung cancer experts and patients optimistic. Knowing how and when to use a liquid biopsy is critically important and led global experts at the International...
With growing concern among the medical community and the public regarding physician and medical student depression, burnout, and suicide, the American Medical Association (AMA) adopted policy during its Annual Meeting that continues its efforts aimed at improving physician access to mental health...
THE U.S. FOOD and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with refractory primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma or who have relapsed after two or more prior lines of therapy on June 13, 2018. The newest ...
JENS HILLENGASS, MD, has been announced as the new Chief of Myeloma of the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. As part of his new role, Dr. Hillengass will continue his research on hematologic diseases, including multiple myeloma and its precursor diseases. A scientist with more than 15...
THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) has designated St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as the first WHO Collaborating Center for Childhood Cancer. With this collaboration, both organizations aim to expand efforts to develop strategies to strengthen the global resources, organization, and planning ...
Building on the efficacy of colorectal cancer screening, the American Medical Association (AMA) endorsed a plan at its Annual Meeting to work with physicians and payers to make the screening more available and affordable. Challenges with insurance coverage remain a barrier to colorectal cancer...
In the phase II DAWN study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Gopal et al found that ibrutinib (Imbruvica) produced a response in a minority of patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma. Study Details In the study, 110 patients with ≥ 2 prior lines of treatment...
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. Gary Deng, MD, PhD, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, present information on the potential health benefits ...
RICHARD D. SCHULICK, MD, MBA, a cancer surgeon and administrative leader, has been named Director of the University of Colorado Cancer Center, a consortium of three universities and three academic teaching hospitals. The University of Colorado Cancer Center is the hub of cancer research in the...
AT THE 71ST World Health Assembly in Geneva, the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) delivered two statements positioning cancer as a priority on the global agenda of the World Health Organization (WHO). Presenting its recommendations for action to the international community, ESMO...
Terminally ill patients with cancer will sometimes ask their clinicians for help with assisted or hastened death.1 Although palliative care and hospice care can usually address the concerns of most patients, some have physical or existential suffering that is refractory to comfort and supportive...
A STUDY evaluating the impact of breast cancer screening has shown that the benefits of regular mammograms extend well beyond reduced mortality. According to data presented at the American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS) 2018 Annual Meeting, women with breast cancer who underwent regular...
FOLAKEMI ODEDINA, PhD, Professor of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy, has been awarded a 2018 Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship to help expand oncology clinical trials in Africa. Dr. Odedina will travel to South Africa to collaborate...
The ASCO updated guidelines on the treatment of metastatic non-castrate prostate cancer penned by Morris and his colleagues1 provide valuable information annotated to the strengths of evidence in recently reported prostate cancer studies. CHAARTED, GETUG-AFU 15, LATITUDE, and STAMPEDE have...
After about 70 years with no significant progress, the landscape for men with de novo metastatic prostate cancer has changed dramatically in the past 4 years, with statistically significant and highly clinically meaningful survival improvement reported from multiple phase III trials when...
The Journal of Oncology Practice (JOP) has launched a new care delivery blog, JOP DAiS (Discussion & Analysis in Short), to serve as a forum for commentary and analysis on issues affecting the mechanisms of oncology care delivery. This new platform will be a way to collaborate, debate, and...
Biologics are credited with increasing median overall survival in colorectal cancer to approximately 30 months. Their optimal use was discussed by Axel Grothey, MD, Professor of Oncology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, in an article he coauthored for the Journal of Oncology Practice 1...
The call from the dermatologist came at noon on Good Friday, just after my wife left with our two young daughters for a week on her family’s tree farm in Northern Michigan. I was on call for the hospital inpatient leukemia service, so I could not join them. When the dermatologist solemnly began,...
Testing for minimal residual disease (MRD) has become an established part of the management of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), but in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the technology still warrants validation. To address issues and set new standards, the European LeukemiaNet Working Party recently ...
Adjuvant treatment with modified FOLFIRINOX resulted in the longest overall survival yet reported for patients with resected pancreatic cancer, according to the results of the phase III Unicancer GI PRODIGE 24/CCTG PA.6 trial, presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 With adjuvant modified...
The ELOQUENT-3 trial, an international phase II study evaluating the addition of elotuzumab (Empliciti) to pomalidomide (Pomalyst) and low-dose dexamethasone in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, achieved its primary endpoint, showing a statistically significant and clinically...
Paxman’s advanced scalp-cooling system has now been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use during treatment of patients with solid tumors. The system is now indicated to reduce the likelihood of chemotherapy-induced alopecia in cancer patients with solid tumors such as...
On June 11, the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates voted 56% to 44% to reject a report by its Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA) that recommended the AMA maintain its Code of Medical Ethics’ opposition to medical aid in dying. Instead, the House of Delegates...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently accepted for filing and granted Priority Review designation a new drug application for talazoparib. The submission is based on results from the EMBRACA trial, which evaluated talazoparib vs chemotherapy in patients with germline BRCA-mutated,...