On July 30, 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved iobenguane I 131 injection (Azedra) for intravenous use in the treatment of adults and adolescents aged 12 and older with unresectable pheochromocytoma or paraganglioma that have spread beyond the original tumor site and require ...
Almost 1 year after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and...
Researchers at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and Northwell Health’s Department of Radiation Medicine have identified methods to increase use of the radiation therapy hypofractionation in patients with breast cancer. These findings, published by Gilbo et al...
Data from a lung cancer screening program at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) provides evidence that national lung cancer screening guidelines, which were developed based on the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) in 2011 and recommend screening based on age and smoking history, may be...
On July 18, 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded the indication for ribociclib (Kisqali), in combination with an aromatase inhibitor for pre/perimenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer, as initial endocrine-based...
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. Ting Bao, MD, DABMA, MS, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, present information on the use of reishi...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved mogamulizumab-kpkc (Poteligeo) injection for intravenous use for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory mycosis fungoides or Sézary syndrome after at least one prior systemic therapy. This approval provides a new...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning that the antibiotic azithromycin should not be given on a long-term basis to prevent the inflammatory lung condition bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome in patients with cancers of the blood or lymph nodes who undergo a donor stem cell...
In the scramble to bring successful apps for the diagnosis of skin cancer to market, there is a concern that a lack of testing is risking public safety, according to research led by the University of Birmingham. The research, outlined at the British Association of Dermatologists Annual...
In a study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Yang et al found that most patients who had undergone surgery for cancer reported that hospital reputation would have been important to them in choosing a hospital for surgery and that they would have used a listing of best hospitals for...
THE ASSESSMENT of cognitive dysfunction in patients who have undergone chemotherapy is complex, and although a number of strategies are available, each has its limitations, according to Karin Olson, RN, PhD, Professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. At...
THE EMERGENCE of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has sparked a wave of optimism in hematologic malignancies, but as experience in using CAR T-cell therapy has grown, new challenges have surfaced. A pioneer in the field, David G. Maloney, MD, PhD, enlightened attendees on these issues ...
BEFORE TOO LONG, oncologists can expect to have an entirely new arsenal in the fight against multiple myeloma. Cutting-edge therapies on the near horizon were described in a presentation by Kenneth Anderson, MD, at the 2018 American Association of Cancer Research’s (AACR’s) inaugural conference on...
WHAT IS THE best choice of treatment for a man with newly diagnosed metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer after treatment with androgen-deprivation therapy—abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) plus prednisone, or enzalutamide (Xtandi)? Both drugs achieve similar cancer control in this setting,...
ROBERT PETER GALE, MD, PhD, DSc (hc), was on the faculty of the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine for 20 years and has served as Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research. In 1986, he was asked by the...
ON MAY 30, 2018, President Donald J. Trump signed into law the Trickett Wendler, Frank Mongiello, Jordan McLinn, and Matthew Bellina Right to Try Act of 2017.1 This law creates an additional and alternative pathway for patients with a “life-threatening disease or condition” to access...
AS REPORTED in The New England Journal of Medicine by Maha Hussain, MD, of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University, and colleagues, the phase III PROSPER trial has shown a 71% reduction in the risk of metastasis or death with enzalutamide (Xtandi) vs placebo in men ...
Research published by Jung et al in OncoImmunology showed organ transplant recipients may reduce their risk of developing secondary skin cancer by changing their immunosuppressant medication. University of Queensland (UQ) researchers have studied the impact of such medications on the immune...
On July 20, 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved ivosidenib (Tibsovo) for adult patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with a susceptible IDH1 mutation as detected by an FDA-approved test. Approval was based on an open-label, single-arm, multicenter...
Gini Fleming, MD, had a peripatetic path to her destination as a gynecologic and breast cancer expert. As a child, she moved around a lot, living in about 10 or 12 different places, so she had no real sense of being born and reared in any particular place. “My parents married young, when my father ...
In a Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) meeting devoted to real-world evidence, members of the cancer community generally agreed that its use has an increasingly important role to play in gathering the data necessary to test, evaluate, and bring new therapeutic agents to market. This Friends...
Early in 2018, abemaciclib (Verzenio) in combination with an aromatase inhibitor was approved as initial endocrine-based therapy for postmenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings in ...
The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has adopted a positive opinion recommending approval of dabrafenib (Tafinlar) in combination with trametinib (Mekinist) for the adjuvant treatment of adult patients with stage III melanoma...
In a prospective cohort study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Merritt et al found evidence that recent use of aspirin or nonaspirin nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) after diagnosis appears to improve ovarian cancer–specific survival. Study Details The study involved...
The PLATO trial failed to show benefit of adding abiraterone (Zytiga)/prednisone to ongoing enzalutamide (Xtandi) vs abiraterone/prednisone in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer exhibiting rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) during enzalutamide treatment. Results of the...
The European Commission (EC) has approved Trazimera, a biosimilar to trastuzumab (Herceptin), for the treatment of human epidermal growth factor (HER2)–overexpressing breast cancer and HER2-overexpressing metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma. This approval...
Conventional wisdom suggests that a high level of the protein prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in men with prostate cancer means a poor prognosis. However, this may not always be the case in men with a particular subtype of prostate cancer, according to a new study from Weill Cornell Medicine and...
High rates of regional lymph node involvement and metastases are not uncommon in Merkel cell carcinoma. National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Guidelines recommend sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) for staging purposes in this malignancy. In a study by Knanckstedt et al in ...
As reported by Li and colleagues in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the HER2-targeted antibody-drug conjugate ado-trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla) showed activity in advanced HER2-mutant lung adenocarcinoma. Study Details The current report involves a cohort of patients with HER2-mutant lung...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Morrow and colleagues found that surgeon acceptance of more limited surgery in early breast cancer was more likely among high-volume surgeons and those preferring a surgical margin of “no ink on tumor.” As noted by the authors, the American College ...
In an Australian phase III trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Coughlin et al found similar functional outcomes at 2 years with robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy and open radical retropubic prostatectomy in men with newly diagnosed clinically localized prostate cancer. Study Details In ...
People who received complementary therapy for curable cancers were more likely to refuse at least one component of their conventional cancer treatment, and were more likely to die as a result, according to researchers from Yale Cancer Center and the Cancer Outcomes, Public Policy and Effectiveness...
Julie M. Vose, MD, MBA, of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and David G. Maloney, MD, PhD, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and winner of this year’s Oliver Press Memorial Award, discuss three CAR T-cell products for lymphoma treatment, comparing their efficacy, toxicity, ease of ...
Susan M. O’Brien, MD, of the University of California, Irvine, discusses three oral agents for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma, and the use of chemotherapy for the disease.
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology by Allison W. Kurian, MD, of Stanford University School of Medicine, and colleagues found that use of germline multiple-gene sequencing has become more common than BRCA1/2-alone sequencing after breast cancer diagnosis in clinical practice. ...
A NEW INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Advances in Cell & Gene Therapy, recently published its inaugural issue in May 2018. The new publication aims to provide a forum for authors to share their newest results, views, and visions in the field of cell and gene therapy. The journal will be published on a...
ASCO HAS ENDORSED the recommendations in the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) clinical practice guidelines for integrative therapies during and after breast cancer.1,2 The guidelines “are clear, thorough, and based on the most relevant scientific evidence,” wrote the ASCO expert panel that...
RECOMMENDATIONS IN the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) clinical practice guidelines for integrative therapies during and after breast cancer treatment “are clear, thorough, and based on the most relevant scientific evidence,” concluded an ASCO expert panel that reviewed the guidelines.1,2...
In 2015, Congress passed the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization ACT (MACRA), which aims to move Medicare toward reimbursement based more on outcomes and values, a goal, in theory, shared by the oncology community. To shed light on the complicated and problematic attempt to restructure the...
On June 4, 2018, pegfilgrastim-jmdb (Fulphila) was approved as a biosimilar to pegfilgrastim (Neulasta) to decrease infection risk in patients with nonmyeloid cancer receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy associated with a significant incidence of febrile neutropenia.1,2 Approval Basis Approval...
In an article published recently in TheNew England Journal of Medicine, Gary H. Lyman, MD, MPH, FACP, FRCP (Edin), FASCO, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, and colleagues reviewed opportunities, issues, and challenges posed by the advent of biosimilar medications, focusing on...
Prior to ASCO’s 2016 endorsement of the Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) guideline on active surveillance in the management of localized prostate cancer,1 most men—over 90%—diagnosed with low-risk localized disease were treated with active therapy.2 Today, about 50% of American men with low-risk disease...
Critics of health-care consolidation have cited higher costs of chemotherapy administration as an example of how mergers drive up costs. A new study by Kalidindi et al in The American Journal of Managed Care found that although drug administration costs in hospitals are higher,...
A new study by Meulepas et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute suggests that computed tomography (CT) scans may increase the risk of brain tumors. The use of CT scans has increased dramatically over the past 2 decades. CT scans greatly improve diagnostic capabilities,...
In the phase III NRG Oncology-RTOG 1203 study, patient-reported gastrointestinal (GI) and urinary toxicities were reduced with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) vs standard radiotherapy (RT) in women with cervical or endometrial cancer. The findings were reported by Klopp et al in the...
EARLY IN 2018, olaparib tablets (Lynparza) were granted regular approval for treatment of patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline BRCA-mutated, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer who have been treated with chemotherapy in the neoadjuvant, adjuvant, or metastatic setting.1,2...
EARLY IN 2018, abiraterone acetate tablets (Zytiga) in combination with prednisone were approved for the treatment of metastatic high-risk castration-sensitive prostate cancer.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data APPROVAL WAS based on the findings of the phase III LATITUDE trial, in which 1,199 patients...
In a Dutch study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Groot et al found that the risk of subsequent malignant neoplasms was increased in the long-term follow up of patients receiving cisplatin or radiotherapy for testicular germ cell cancer. Risk vs General Population The study involved...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ivosidenib (Tibsovo) tablets for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who have a specific genetic mutation. This is the first drug in its class (isocitrate dehydrogenase-1 [IDH1]...
The randomized, phase III TOURMALINE-MM3 study met its primary endpoint, demonstrating single-agent oral ixazomib (Ninlaro) as a maintenance therapy resulted in a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) vs placebo. The trial evaluated the effect of ixazomib as a...