Patients with recurrent urothelial cancer had sustained improvement in overall survival at 2 years after they received second-line treatment with pembrolizumab (Keytruda) vs chemotherapy, according to an updated survival analysis of the phase III KEYNOTE-045 trial presented at the 2018...
Why wouldn’t you support a patient with a terminal illness the “right to try” any therapy that may save his or her life? The answer to this question—one engulfed in a political debate in Congress—seems simple. It is not. [Editor’s Note: [Editor’s Note: On May 30, 2018, the President signed into...
This past January, ASCO published Clinical Cancer Advances 2018,1 its 13th annual report on the progress being made against cancer. The report names chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapy as ASCO’s Advance of the Year. In 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved two ...
Cabozantinib (Cometriq) has demonstrated significant activity in the first-line setting for radioiodine-refractory differentiated thyroid carcinoma, according to data from a single-site phase II trial presented at the 2018 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium.1 Treatment with...
Pediatric patients with solid tumors may have poor quality T cells compared to patients with leukemia, and certain chemotherapies were detrimental to the T cells and their potential to become chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, according to data presented during a media preview for the...
An antibody that is present in the blood of women previously infected with the sexually transmitted infection chlamydia is associated with a doubling in ovarian cancer risk, according to data presented during a media preview for the 2018 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual...
Survivors of adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer often have stronger social networks than their peers with no cancer history, according to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital researchers, who hope to translate that support into better health outcomes for the nation’s...
Researchers at the University of California (UC), Davis, have shown that patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who received their care at a National Cancer Institute (NCI) cancer center in California had a dramatically reduced risk of early mortality. Using data from the California Cancer...
On February 15, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted a new drug application (NDA) for ivosidenib (AG-120) for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with an isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) mutation. The NDA was granted Priority Review...
GUEST EDITOR Addressing the evolving needs of cancer survivors at various stages of their illness and care, Palliative Care in Oncology is guest edited by Jamie H. Von Roenn, MD. Dr. Von Roenn is ASCO’s Vice President of Education, Science, and Professional Development. Although advances in such ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Gore et al, a phase II trial has shown high response rates with dasatinib treatment in pediatric patients with Philadelphia chromosome–positive (Ph+) chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase (CML-CP). Findings in the trial supported the...
Law and Ethics in Oncology explores the legal and ethical issues oncologists must be aware of in this era of precision medicine and changing health-care policy, both to protect patients’ rights and to safeguard against potential legal jeopardy. For years, ASCO and other medical societies have...
ON DECEMBER 19, 2017, cabozantinib (Cabometyx) was granted regular approval for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma.1,2 Cabozantinib was initially granted approval in 2016 for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma who had received prior antiangiogenic therapy. The...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms of action, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On December 19, 2017, bosutinib (Bosulif) was granted...
Dr. Katz is a certified sexuality counselor at CancerCare Manitoba, Canada. SEXUALITY AND SEXUAL functioning are important to cancer survivors, and considering the significant number of survivors, this is an issue that should not be ignored. In a survey of cancer survivors who had completed...
AS REPORTED in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Jeanne Carter, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and colleagues, ASCO has issued a clinical practice guideline adaptation of the Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) guideline on interventions to address sexual problems in people with cancer.1 ...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies commonly used by patients with cancer. In this installment, Ting Bao, MD, DABMA, MS, reviews the current data on the use of acupuncture...
The level of genomic alterations in genes associated with the oncogenesis of specific solid tumor types is being investigated in patients that have demonstrated an exceptional response to currently approved targeted therapies, researchers announced at the International Congress on Targeted...
ADJUVANT CHEMOTHERAPY achieved robust improvements in disease-free survival and metastasis-free survival compared with surveillance in the phase III POUT study of patients with upper tract urothelial cancer.1 Further, there was an early trend toward improved overall survival with adjuvant...
SORAFENIB (Nexavar) added to transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) doubled the median progression-free survival over TACE alone in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma, Japanese investigators reported at the 2018 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.1 The results of the randomized,...
IN TWO SEPARATE TRIALS presented at the 2018 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, apalutamide and enzalutamide (Xtandi), respectively, reduced the risk of metastasis and prolonged metastasis-free survival in men with high-risk nonmetastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer. In the SPARTAN trial,1,2...
ON OCTOBER 17, 2017, Norman E. Sharpless, MD, became the 15th Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), succeeding Harold E. Varmus, MD, who stepped down as Director of the agency in March 2015, and replacing Douglas R. Lowy, MD, who had served as Acting Director for 2 years. The...
ASCO EXPERT Sumanta K. Pal, MD, of City of Hope, Duarte, California, commented, “IMmotion 151 is a positive trial and represents an important breakthrough. We have debated combination treatment strategies for advanced kidney cancer. This study looks at the combination of a programmed cell death...
In a systematic review and meta-analysis reported in Leukemia & Lymphoma, Shah et al identified the risk of cardiotoxicity among patients, most with multiple myeloma, receiving carfilzomib (Kyprolis) in clinical trials. Study Details The study included data from 4,164 patients who received...
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) researchers have discovered that a combination of high doses of radiotherapy and hormonal therapy provides the best chance of decreasing the mortality rate in men with aggressive prostate cancer. The findings, published by Kishan et al in JAMA, also...
In a phase I trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Burris et al determined the phase II dose of the next-generation PI3Kδ inhibitor umbralisib and found evidence of the agent’s activity in relapsed or refractory hematologic malignancies. Umbralisib exhibits improved PI3K isoform...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the Personal Genome Service Genetic Health Risk (GHR) Report for BRCA1/BRCA2 (Selected Variants). It is the first direct-to-consumer (DTC) test to report on three specific BRCA1/BRCA2 breast cancer gene mutations that are most common in...
Immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors is the first of a new generation of immunotherapy treatments, revolutionizing treatment for many different types of cancer. By unleashing the body’s immune system to attack cancer, these treatments can send even the most hard-to-treat cancers into...
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies in melanoma. These studies focus on assessing response to checkpoint inhibitors; T-cell immunotherapy; combination therapies; adoptive cell therapy; combination therapy development; and...
On December 5, 2017, bevacizumab (Avastin) was granted regular approval for the treatment of recurrent glioblastoma in adults.1 Bevacizumab was granted accelerated approval in May 2009 for use in treating patients with glioblastoma who had disease progression on prior therapy. Supporting Efficacy...
Why wouldn’t you support a patient with a terminal illness the “right to try” any therapy that may save his or her life? The answer to this question—one engulfed in a political debate in Congress—seems simple. It is not. [Editor’s Note: On May 30, 2018, the President signed into law the Trickett...
A study examining prevalence estimates of colorectal cancer screening at the county level in the United States has found that the country is far behind reaching the goal of screening 80% of adults aged 50 and older for colorectal cancer by 2018, which is supported by the National Colorectal Cancer...
In a phase III trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Raje et al found that denosumab was noninferior to zoledronic acid in preventing skeletal-related events (SREs) in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients with bone disease. Study Details In the double-blind trial, 1,718 patients with at...
As reported by Smith et al in The New England Journal of Medicine, the phase III SPARTAN trial has shown that the androgen receptor inhibitor apalutamide (Erleada) produces significant improvement in metastasis-free survival and time to symptomatic progression vs placebo among men with...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Drilon et al found that the oral tropomyosin receptor kinase (TRK) inhibitor larotrectinib produced a high response rate and enduring responses in patients with TRK fusion–positive cancers. These fusions have been found to lead to...
The use of maintenance therapy in older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is theoretically sensible, but its clinical value remains uncertain. The phase III HOVON97 randomized study demonstrated that maintenance therapy with the hypomethylating agent azacitidine may improve disease-free...
HERE IS AN UPDATE on four different studies featured at the 2017 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition. Topics focus on advanced systemic mastocytosis, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), amyloidosis, and myeloproliferative neoplasms. Systemic Mastocytosis...
ASCO AND the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) have launched their new, joint platform for quality reporting, making it easier for oncologists to comply with federal government reporting requirements in 2018. The new QOPI® Reporting Registry, a Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR), ...
IN JANUARY 2018, ASCO launched the ASCO in Action Podcast, a new podcast series hosted by ASCO Chief Executive Officer Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP, FASCO. This series features thought leaders and experts in oncology discussing the most pressing policy and practice issues impacting the cancer care...
In May 2017, I started to reflect on my own personal views of wellness and the importance of the team. Since that time, I have been fortunate to speak with members of front-line clinical teams from four different practices: Eric Tetzlaff, MSH, PA-C, and Michael Hall, MD, MS, of Fox Chase Cancer...
THE U.S. PREVENTIVE Services Task Force (USPSTF) recently published a final recommendation statement and evidence summary on screening for ovarian cancer. Based on its review of the evidence, the USPSTF recommends against screening for ovarian cancer in women who do not have any signs or symptoms...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Brown et al found that the serum bone biomarkers P1NP, CTX, and 1-CTP showed good prognostic ability for bone metastasis in patients in the phase III AZURE (BIG01/04) trial of adjuvant zoledronic acid in early breast cancer....
The number of U.S. cases of Merkel cell carcinoma is rising about six times faster than most other cancers, and at nearly twice the rate of melanoma. Paulson et al reported these findings in The Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, which are based on research conducted at the University...
On February 15, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted a new drug application (NDA) for ivosidenib (AG-120) for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with an isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) mutation. The NDA was granted Priority Review...
It is well established that adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer—defined by the National Cancer Institute as those between the ages of 15 and 39 years—have not reaped a comparable survival benefit as either younger or older adult cancer survivors over the past 4 decades, despite...
Law and Ethics in Oncology explores the legal and ethical issues oncologists must be aware of in this era of precision medicine and changing health-care policy, both to protect patients’ rights and to safeguard against potential legal jeopardy. Increasingly, across the United States, hospitals are...
OBESE PATIENTS with metastatic melanoma who are treated with targeted or immune therapies live significantly longer than those with a normal body mass index (BMI), according to a study published in The Lancet Oncology of 1,918 patients in 6 independent clinical cohorts.1 This effect—referred to as ...
A DETAILED quality-of-life analysis of the phase III EF-14 trial of tumor-treating fields (Optune) in combination with temozolomide for the treatment of newly diagnosed glioblastoma was published by Taphoorn et al in JAMA Oncology.1 This secondary endpoint analysis showed the addition of...
As reported by Petrylak et al in JAMA Oncology, long-term follow-up of patients in a phase I study expansion cohort indicated enduring clinical benefit and maintained tolerability of atezolizumab (Tecentriq) in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma. Study Details The study involved...
A family history of breast cancer continues to significantly increase chances of developing invasive breast tumors in women aged 65 years and older, according to research published by Braithwaite et al in JAMA Internal Medicine. The findings could impact mammography screening decisions later in...