Formal discussant of the CheckMate 816 trial, Jhanelle E. Gray, MD, of Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, said that both neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapies have been shown to improve overall survival and relapse-free survival in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). “Overall, neoadjuvant outcomes compare...
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy with nivolumab plus platinum-doublet chemotherapy significantly improved pathologic complete response rates compared with chemotherapy alone in patients with resectable stage IB to IIIA non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to the results of the CheckMate 816 study...
Formal discussant of the FOENIX-CCA2 trial, Ezra E.W. Cohen, MD, of the University of California San Diego and Moores Cancer Center, was encouraged by the findings with highly selective targeted agents such as futibatinib and emphasized the importance of molecular profiling. “The molecular...
Futibatinib—a selective, fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitor—demonstrated anticancer activity in patients with advanced intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and FGFR2 fusions or rearrangements. These findings are based on the primary results of the phase II FOENIX-CCA2 trial, which were...
“This study is important because of the large numbers of genetic samples and the significance of the results,” stated Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, President of the American Association for Cancer Research and Director of Tumor Immunology at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. “The study included...
Researchers have made progress in unravelling the genetic underpinnings of pediatric neuroblastoma. Two main inherited pathogenic genetic variants have been identified and appear to be associated with worse outcomes: the ALK gene and loss of function in PHOX2B. The research, conducted with the...
Jacqueline S. Garcia, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who was not involved in this study, agreed that “novel therapies for relapsed/refractory AML that are biomarker-directed are a dire unmet need and may help patients avoid ineffective therapies and unnecessary toxicity.” She noted that 36%...
The novel agentSY-1425 combined with azacitidine appears to be active in retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARA) superenhancer–positive newly diagnosed and relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to the results of a phase II trial presented at the 2020 American Society of...
Neoadjuvant nivolumab plus platinum-doublet chemotherapy significantly improved pathologic complete response (pCR) rates compared with chemotherapy alone in patients with resectable stage IB to IIIA non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to results of the randomized, phase III, open-label...
The combination of copanlisib plus rituximab reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 48% compared with placebo plus rituximab in patients with indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma, according to results of the phase III CHRONOS-3 trial presented by Matthew J. Matasar, MD, at the virtual...
Treatment with tebentafusp, a novel bispecific fusion protein, reduced the risk of death from metastatic uveal melanoma at 14 months by half, compared with available treatments, in a phase III study presented by Piperno-Neumann et al at the virtual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)...
Invited discussant David A. Braun, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, said there are a couple of established pillars of systemic therapy for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). “An immune checkpoint inhibitor is a strong pillar, a [vascular endothelial growth factor tyrosine...
Separate studies presented at the 2021 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium provide supportive evidence for belzutifan (formerly MK-6482) as an active treatment for metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC). One study showed single-agent activity for this novel approach in an early-phase trial,...
“The absolute risk reduction in metastasis ranges from 2% to 12% by 10 years. Given this heterogeneity, there is a strong rationale for better prognostic markers to personalize treatment of prostate cancer. Nearly all men treated with androgen-deprivation therapy have variable side effects that...
According to a retrospective study, the combined clinical and cell-cycle risk (CCR) score may be able to accurately predict which patients with intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer will have little additional benefit from androgen-deprivation therapy added to dose-escalated radiotherapy and...
Xin Gao, MD, a medical oncologist at Mass General Hospital and Instructor at Harvard Medical School, said these were important findings. “Analyses of patient-reported outcomes pertaining to health-related quality-of-life measures from CheckMate 9ER showed significantly improved quality-of-life...
Results of the CheckMate 9ER phase III trial showed significantly improved patient-reported outcomes in quality of life for first-line treatment with nivolumab plus cabozantinib compared with sunitinib for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.1 These findings are in line with the previously...
Session moderator Ana Maria Lopez, MD, Professor and Vice Chair of Medical Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, and Chief of Cancer Services for the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, JeffersonHealth New Jersey, commented on the FluFIT presentation. “This presentation...
A novel strategy of combining a drive-by flu vaccination clinic with an opportunity for participants to use a take-home fecal immunochemical test (FIT) increased access to colorectal screening among Black Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results related to access to colorectal cancer...
Joseph Alvarnas, MD, a hematologist/oncologist and Vice President of Government Affairs at City of Hope, Duarte, California, commented on the Reboot Rx meta-analysis. “What has been striking about SARS-CoV-2 has been the variability of clinical symptoms among affected patients,” Dr. Alvarnas said. ...
Patients with cancer are at an increased risk of death due to COVID-19 compared with the general population. And hematologic cancers carry an even greater risk than solid tumors, according to a comprehensive meta-analysis from the Reboot: COVID-Cancer Project presented at the 2021 AACR Virtual...
Invited discussant of the ACIS study, Joshi J. Alumkal, MD, leader of the Genitourinary Medical Oncology Section at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, noted that the toxicities were slightly higher with apalutamide plus abiraterone acetate/prednisone, including fatigue, hypertension,...
The phase III ACIS trial met its primary endpoint at 6 months showing that apalutamide plus abiraterone acetate/prednisone (AAP) extended radiographic progression-free survival vs abiraterone acetate/prednisone alone in patients with chemotherapy-naive metastatic castration-resistant prostate...
Invited discussant of SWOG 1500, Stephanie Berg, DO, of Loyola University Chicago, was impressed by these results: “We should consider cabozantinib as another option for papillary renal cell carcinoma.” “Cabozantinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor with a broad range of targets, including MET, one...
Cabozantinib achieved a statistically significant and clinically meaningful extension in progression-free survival compared with sunitinib in patients with metastatic papillary renal cell carcinoma, a relatively uncommon type of renal cell carcinoma, according to the randomized phase II SWOG 1500...
Invited discussant of the SAKK 09/10 trial, Richard K. Valicenti, MD, of the University of California, Davis, commented: “These results bring us closer to a more individualized approach than using PSA dynamics and conventional imaging. It does not appear that historic norms are sufficient to...
A dose-intensified approach to salvage radiotherapy failed to show superiority to a conventional-dose strategy in patients with biochemically recurrent prostate cancer who had undergone radical prostatectomy, according to the phase III SAKK 09/10 trial presented at the 2021 Genitourinary Cancers...
Oliver Sartor, MD, Assistant Dean for Oncology and Professor at the Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, commended Dr. Hofman and colleagues for completing a randomized phase II trial of lutetium-177–labeled prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA-617), or LuPSMA, so quickly. He...
Following disease progression on docetaxel, prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted radionuclide therapy reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 37% vs cabazitaxel in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer in the TheraP phase II trial reported at the 2021...
“Now we know enfortumab vedotin-ejfv is here to stay in the armamentarium of treatment for advanced urothelial cancer,” said Arlene O. Siefker-Radtke, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, during her discussion of both EV-301 and EV-201. “As we saw, overall survival was quite...
Enfortumab vedotin-ejfv continues to move the needle forward as a validated treatment option for advanced urothelial carcinoma. At the 2021 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, results from the phase III EV-301 study1 and EV-201 Cohort 22 provided support for the use of this agent in both patients...
The formal discussant of the CLEAR trial, Stephanie Berg, DO, of Loyola University Medical Center, Chicago, was enthusiastic about these findings. “Traditionally, first-line therapy with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors led to a median overall survival...
The combination of lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab was superior to sunitinib for progression-free and overall survival as well as other key endpoints in patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC), according to results of the phase III CLEAR trial presented at the 2021 Genitourinary ...
Sumanta Pal, MD, of City of Hope, Duarte, California, praised the authors for the conduct of the study, but stopped short of endorsing nivolumab as standard of care. “The phase III CheckMate 274 trial evaluated adjuvant nivolumab vs placebo in patients with high-risk, resected, muscle-invasive...
Adjuvant therapy with nivolumab, an anti–PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor, after radical surgery improved disease-free survival in high-risk muscle-invasive urothelial cancer regardless of PD-L1 status, according to the results of the CheckMate 274 randomized phase III trial presented at the 2021...
As of this writing, no drugs have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of COVID-19, although several have received emergency use authorization and many others are being used off-label during the pandemic. In addition to searching for novel therapies, David...
Ana Maria Lopez, MD, Professor and Vice Chair of Medical Oncology and Chief of Cancer Services for the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Jefferson Health New Jersey, commented on Dr. Reid’s presentation. “Dr. Reid presented a report about a robust cancer program that addresses the needs of rural...
Various studies at institutions in the United States and abroad have shown a substantial decline in cancer screening rates during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that fewer cancers will be detected by screening and when they do manifest, they will be at more advanced stages. Indeed,...
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 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...
Following disease progression on docetaxel, prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted radionuclide therapy reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 37% vs cabazitaxel in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer in the phase II TheraP trial reported by Michael S....
The combination of lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab showed superiority over sunitinib in terms of overall survival, progression-free survival, and objective response rate in patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC), according to results of the phase III CLEAR trial. The CLEAR study ...
A dose-intensified approach to salvage radiotherapy failed to show superiority to a conventional dose strategy in patients with biochemically recurrent prostate cancer who had undergone radical prostatectomy, according to a study presented by Pirus Ghadjar, MD, and colleagues at the 2021...
The phase III ACIS trial met its primary endpoint at 6 months, showing that apalutamide plus abiraterone acetate/prednisone extended radiographic progression-free survival vs abiraterone acetate/prednisone alone in patients with chemotherapy-naive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. An ...
Shoshana Rosenberg, ScD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, Boston, weighed in on the implications of these findings. “The study underscores the importance of addressing psychosocial health in survivorship. it targeted a particularly...
A diagnosis of breast cancer and subsequent treatment may increase the risk of depression, especially among younger women with breast cancer. A new study showed that behavioral interventions—specifically mindfulness meditation and survivorship education classes—may reduce depressive symptoms, as...
It may be possible to exploit T cells from healthy volunteers who have recovered from COVID-19 as a treatment for this viral infection. Researchers at the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine have designed an off-the-shelf COVID virus–specific T-cell product (called...
Breast cancer survivors of child-bearing age appear to have a more difficult time becoming pregnant than the general population, and when they do become pregnant, they have a higher risk of preterm labor and need for cesarean section. Fortunately, most women deliver healthy babies, but they are...
Jacob Soumerai, MD, Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, who was not involved in this study, commented on the MURANO study findings. “MURANO is the definitive phase III trial that established venetoclax/rituximab as a standard of care for...
Patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) treated with the combination of fixed-duration venetoclax/rituximab had a longer overall survival and progression-free survival at 5 years compared with those treated with bendamustine/rituximab, according to a 5-year analysis...