About 3 years ago, I woke up from a sound sleep and was having a hard time breathing. It felt like someone was sitting on my neck, constricting my airways. I could feel prominent swelling in my lymph nodes along my neck and clavicle, and I was scared. A trip to the emergency room proved fruitless, ...
Evidence from a small early trial called COBALT-RCC provides proof of concept for use of an allogeneic off-the-shelf CD70-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy called CTX130 in patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC). CTX130 is engineered using gene-editing...
Results from the Prognostic Immunophenotyping in Myeloma Response (PRIMeR) study, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Marcelo C. Pasquini, MD, MS, and colleagues, found that undetectable measurable residual disease (MRD) status at 1 year after autologous hematopoietic cell...
On May 15, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy lisocabtagene maraleucel (Breyanzi) for adult patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma who have received two or more prior lines of systemic...
The novel investigational positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging agent gallium (Ga)-68–DPI-4452 may offer rapid and accurate visualization of lesions in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma, according to a recent study published by Hofman et al in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. The...
In updated findings from the phase III KEYNOTE-756 trial, the addition of pembrolizumab to chemotherapy in the neoadjuvant setting improved the rates of pathologic complete response for patients with high-risk estrogen receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, regardless of their age or...
New research findings have highlighted the importance of personalized treatment approaches with the monoclonal antibody durvalumab based on mismatch repair (MMR) status in newly diagnosed patients with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer, according to data presented during the Society of...
Treatment with the first-in-class PD-1/CTLA-4 bispecific antibody cadonilimab plus XELOX (capecitabine, oxaliplatin) chemotherapy demonstrated a survival advantage for patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma as first-line treatment, regardless of PD-L1...
Two studies presented at the 2024 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium added support for the deintensification of radiotherapy in early-stage oropharyngeal squamous cell cancers associated with the human papillomavirus (HPV), a subtype typically more responsive to therapy compared to...
In an analysis of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in the DESTINY-Breast02 trial published in The Lancet Oncology, Tanja Fehm, MD, and colleagues found that general health status/quality of life was maintained over time with fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) vs physician’s choice of therapy...
Glecirasib monotherapy demonstrated efficacy in previously treated patients with KRAS G12C–mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) according to data presented during the ASCO Plenary Series: April 2024 Session (Abstract 468214). Results of the pivotal Chinese phase II study of glecirasib...
On April 29, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted traditional approval to tisotumab vedotin-tftv (Tivdak) for patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer whose disease progressed on or after chemotherapy. Tisotumab vedotin-tftv previously received accelerated approval for...
The session’s invited discussant at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) 2024 Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer was Gini F. Fleming, MD, Professor of Medicine, and Medical Director of Gynecologic Oncology at the University of Chicago. She was elated with the findings of several studies showing...
The addition of a checkpoint inhibitor to standard chemotherapy as first-line treatment of advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer not only reduced the risk of disease progression but improved overall survival, particularly for the mismatch repair–deficient/microsatellite instability–high...
Although KRAS was once considered an untargetable mutation, KRAS inhibitors are now approved for the treatment of KRAS-mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and are emerging as a potential option for the treatment of KRAS G12C–mutated colorectal cancer in combination with other therapies....
On April 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved lutetium Lu-177 dotatate (Lutathera) for pediatric patients aged 12 years and older with somatostatin receptor (SSTR)-positive gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs), including foregut, midgut, and hindgut...
On April 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to the type II RAF inhibitor tovorafenib (Ojemda) for patients 6 months of age and older with relapsed or refractory pediatric low-grade glioma harboring a BRAF fusion or rearrangement or BRAF V600 mutation. This...
On April 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved nogapendekin alfa inbakicept-pmln (Anktiva) with bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) for adults with BCG-unresponsive non–muscle invasive bladder cancer with carcinoma in situ with or without papillary tumors. QUILT-3.032 Trial Efficacy...
On April 18, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the tyrosine kinase inhibitor alectinib (Alecensa) for adjuvant treatment after tumor resection in patients with ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), as detected by an FDA-approved test. Alectinib is an orally...
Pain, a debilitating consequence of cancer and its treatments, is highly prevalent among patients with advanced cancer.1 Often persistent and undertreated, it is associated with poor functional and emotional well-being and typically occurs along with insomnia and fatigue.2 The use of opioids,...
The combination of immunotherapy, targeted therapy, and chemotherapy could be the new standard first-line treatment of patients with high-grade, advanced ovarian cancer with BRCA wild-type, homologous recombination deficiency (HRD)-positive tumors, according to data presented during the Society of...
TG4050, a personalized neoantigen vaccine, induced tumor-specific immune responses and led to low rates of disease relapse in patients with surgically resected human papillomavirus (HPV)-negative head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC), according to results reported at the American Association...
AZD1390, an ataxia telangiectasia mutant (ATM) kinase inhibitor, demonstrated a manageable safety profile in patients with both recurrent and newly diagnosed glioblastoma when given in combination with standard-of-care radiotherapy and showed preliminary efficacy in patients with recurrent...
The combination of the KRAS G12C inhibitor adagrasib and the anti-EGFR antibody cetuximab showed clinical activity and promising survival outcomes in a cohort of patients with metastatic, heavily pretreated, KRAS G12C–mutated colorectal cancer, according to results from the phase I/II KRYSTAL-1...
SYNC-T—an investigational therapy that combines a device-induced vaccination at the tumor site with an intratumoral infusion of a multitarget biologic drug—led to numerous clinical responses in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, according to results reported at the...
An adjuvant treatment regimen that included autogene cevumeran, an investigational individualized neoantigen-specific mRNA vaccine, induced durable and functional T-cell responses that were associated with a reduced risk of disease recurrence in certain patients with resectable pancreatic cancer,...
The PD-1/CTLA-4 bispecific antibody cadonilimab plus chemotherapy improved progression-free and overall survival in patients with untreated, HER2-negative, locally advanced or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer—including those with PD-L1–low tumors—compared with...
On April 5, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ciltacabtagene autoleucel (Carvykti) for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have received at least one prior line of therapy, including a proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulatory agent, and...
The combination of the antibody-drug conjugate mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx and the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab showed notable activity in patients with recurrent or persistent microsatellite-stable endometrial cancer, according to new findings presented by Porter et al at the...
In a single-center phase I/II study (LOKON001) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Musher et al found that treatment with an oncolytic virus–based immunostimulatory gene therapy (LOAd703) plus chemotherapy was feasible and safe in patients with unresectable or metastatic pancreatic ductal...
Of 58 million people worldwide living with hepatitis C virus (HCV), one-sixth of them are found in sub-Saharan Africa.1 Yet, in that region, direct access to diagnostic testing and treatment is limited to less than 5%. HCV carries significant downstream implications including cirrhosis (30%–46%), ...
Statistically significant and clinically meaningful overall survival results from Part 1 and progression-free survival results from Part 2 of the RUBY/ENGOT-EN6/GOG3031/NSGO phase III trial in adult patients with primary advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer were presented in a late-breaking...
On March 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx (Elahere) for adult patients with folate receptor–alpha (FRα)-positive, platinum-resistant epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer, who have received one to three prior systemic ...
In 1996, at the age of 37, Kathy Giusti was diagnosed with the incurable blood cancer multiple myeloma and told she had about 3 years to live. In the mid-1990s, effective therapies for this second most common blood cancer were nearly nonexistent. Standard of care for myeloma consisted of oral...
In patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), perioperative treatment involving the checkpoint inhibitor tislelizumab led to a statistically significant benefit in event-free survival and a favorable trend for overall survival, investigators for the phase III RATIONALE-315 trial...
A novel genetic test may predict how patients with triple-negative early-stage breast cancer will respond to immunotherapy, according to new findings presented by Wolf et al at the 2024 European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC) (Abstract 2LBA). The research may help patients who are unlikely to...
The combination of the small molecule inhibitor of VEGFR fruquintinib and the chemotherapy paclitaxel presents a potential new second-line treatment of patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma, according to data presented during the ASCO Plenary Series: February...
Adjuvant use of the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab achieved a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in disease-free survival in patients with high-risk muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma vs observation after surgical resection, according to an interim analysis of the phase ...
Combination immunotherapy with the anti–PD-L1 monoclonal antibody durvalumab and other novel agents seemed to outperform durvalumab alone in the neoadjuvant setting for early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center,...
“The practice of medicine is an art, not a trade….” —Sir William Osler Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) accounts for approximately 5% to 7% of all lymphomas; the median age of patients with MCL is between 60 and 70 years. This lymphoma is generally considered incurable. Median survival in retrospective...
The combination of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor cabozantinib (multiple targets, including MET, AXL, VEGFR2, RET, and FLT ) plus the monoclonal antibody atezolizumab achieved statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival compared with second-line novel hormonal therapy in...
On March 19, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to the multitarget kinase inhibitor (Iclusig) with chemotherapy for adult patients with newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome–positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). PhALLCON Efficacy was evaluated in...
Treatment with a short course of intensified hormonal therapy in combination with metastasis-directed stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) may be safe and effective in patients with oligorecurrent and metastatic prostate cancer, according to a recent study published by Nikitas et al in...
Latest analysis of the results from the phase III DUO-E trial showed durvalumab plus platinum-based chemotherapy followed by durvalumab plus olaparib demonstrated an improvement in multiple key secondary efficacy endpoints, particularly in patients with mismatch repair–proficient (pMMR) advanced or ...
On March 14, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to lisocabtagene maraleucel (Breyanzi), a CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small...
On March 14, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the humanized immunoglobulin G4 anti–PD-1 monoclonal antibody tislelizumab-jsgr (Tevimbra) as monotherapy for adults with unresectable or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma after prior systemic chemotherapy that did not...
The combination of the nectin-4–directed antibody-drug conjugate enfortumab vedotin-ejfv plus the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab achieved favorable rates of progression-free survival, overall survival, and objective responses compared with chemotherapy among key subgroups of patients with previously...
A new matching adjusted indirect comparison of the efficacy of zanubrutinib vs acalabrutinib in relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) based on data from the phase III ALPINE and ASCEND trials was presented by Shadman et al at the 28th Annual International Congress on Hematologic ...
Positive results with the use of belantamab mafodotin-blmf in the phase III DREAMM-7 study were presented during the ASCO Plenary Series: February 2024.1 In relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, DREAMM-7 evaluated the use of the regimen belantamab mafodotin, bortezomib, and dexamethasone (BVd)...
Formal discussant of the BRCAAway trial, Kim N. Chi, MD, of the British Columbia Cancer–Vancouver Center, University of British Columbia, Canada, said this study supports the use of PARP inhibitors in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and homologous recombination–repair...