Invited discussant Federico Cappuzzo, MD, Director of Medical Oncology at the National Cancer Institute Regina Elena in Rome, said the study reported by Peters et al is “important” and “provocative,” but he raised some concerns. “From this study, we cannot answer from a scientific point of view...
Except in patients with no smoking history, the addition of chemotherapy to immunotherapy does not add benefit as a first-line treatment in patients with stage IV nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and high expression of PD-L1, according to real-world experience. Outcomes from the U.S. ...
Drug-related interstitial lung disease occurred in less than 16% of patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer following treatment with trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) at the approved dose of 5.4 mg/kg. In addition, the majority of these cases were classified as grade 1 or 2,...
First results from the phase II GELATO study evaluating atezolizumab plus carboplatin presented at the ESMO Breast Cancer Virtual Congress 2021 demonstrated clinical benefit in patients with metastatic invasive lobular breast cancer, particularly in patients with triple-negative invasive lobular...
The addition of bevacizumab to ixabepilone could be a promising treatment strategy for a group of patients with cancer currently lacking therapeutic options, according to data presented during the virtual edition of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) 2021 Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer.1...
Long-term analysis of the Short-HER trial showed that 9 weeks of adjuvant trastuzumab conveyed benefits comparable to a 1-year course in patients with early HER2-positive breast cancer deemed to be at low or intermediate risk for disease recurrence. High-risk patients, however, derived considerably ...
In the phase III KAITLIN trial, replacing adjuvant taxane and trastuzumab with ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) did not result in a significant improvement in invasive disease-free survival in the node-positive or intent-to-treat population, as reported by Harbeck et al at the 2020 ASCO Virtual...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Priority Review to the combination of pembrolizumab and lenvatinib for the treatment of both advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and endometrial carcinoma. The FDA also granted Priority Review to ivosidenib for the treatment of...
The finding that breast tumors can evolve to express low HER2 potentially increases the number of patients who can benefit from new investigational agents, typically novel antibody-drug conjugate therapies, that are currently in clinical trials for HER2-low tumors. This research was presented by...
PRESERVE 4 (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04863248)—a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase II study of trilaciclib administered prior to docetaxel in patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the second- and third-line setting who have previously...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Durno et al in the International Replication Repair Deficiency Consortium (IRRDC), use of an IRRDC surveillance protocol was associated with improved overall survival among patients with constitutional mismatch repair deficiency syndrome (CMMRD)....
On May 10, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to include adolescents aged 12 through 15. The FDA...
Complete morphologic remission is considered the first requirement for achieving long-term, leukemia-free survival and a potential cure in patients with acute leukemia, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and is the goal of all therapeutic strategies to date. Recognizing that the majority of...
ASCO and Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario) have jointly published an update1 to the 2017 ASCO guideline2 regarding systemic therapy recommendations for stage IV non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with driver alterations. Guideline Co-Chair Nasser H. Hanna, MD, of the Indiana University Simon...
As of April 1, additional savings may be available for new and current consumers who purchase health insurance on HealthCare.gov following passage of the American Rescue Plan. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) also extended access to the Special Enrollment Period (SEP) for the...
As patients finish active treatment, they often wonder: “What happens next?” ASCO Answers: Cancer Survivorship assists in answering this often-difficult question by helping patients better understand survivorship, including its psychological, physical, sexual, reproductive, financial, and...
In a typical year, the new participants in ASCO and Conquer Cancer’s International Development and Education Awards (IDEA) and International Development and Education Awards–Palliative Care (IDEA-PC) program would arrive at the McCormick Place Convention Center just ahead of the ASCO Annual...
As a three-time breast cancer survivor, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States this past January, I knew I had to do everything I could to avoid getting the virus. A host of lingering side effects from my surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation treatments have left me with cardiovascular...
It is incredible to reflect upon the scientific advances in the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer over the past 23 years. Once considered the worst subtype of breast cancer, HER2-positive disease is now associated with the best long-term outcomes in this age of targeted treatments. With a...
A significant survival advantage accrued to patients with stage IIB and IIC cutaneous melanoma who received adjuvant immunotherapy, a large retrospective cohort study reported at the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) 2021 International Conference on Surgical Cancer Care.1 The 3-year overall...
Taofeek K. Owonikoko, MD, PhD, will join the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UMPC) Hillman Cancer Center and Department of Medicine as Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology. A physician-scientist board-certified in medical oncology, hematology, and internal medicine, Dr. Owonikoko...
The expected surge of patients, some with advanced cancers, wanting and needing oncology care as the COVID-19 pandemic ebbs, underscores the need for more oncologists, according to Barbara L. McAneny, MD, MACP, FASCO, cofounder and Chief Executive Officer, New Mexico Oncology Hematology...
Late this past year, a group of oncologists led by Philippe E. Spiess, MD, MS, FRCS(C), FACS, Assistant Chief of Surgical Services and Senior Member in the Department of Genitourinary Oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center and Professor in the Department of Urology at the University of South Florida;...
On February 22, 2021, cemiplimab-rwlc was approved for first-line treatment of patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC; locally advanced who are not candidates for surgical resection or definitive chemoradiation therapy or metastatic) whose tumors have high PD-L1 expression (tumor...
Pent up demand for cancer screenings, diagnostic workups, and treatments delayed or curtailed since the start of the pandemic is expected to result in a surge of patients—some with more advanced disease as a result of delays—seeking appointments with oncologists. “We are starting to see the...
On April 16, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved nivolumab (Opdivo) in combination with fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-containing chemotherapy for advanced or metastatic gastric cancer, gastroesophageal junction cancer, and esophageal adenocarcinoma. CheckMate 649 The...
Living with a genetic disorder that calls for regular monitoring, appropriate treatment, and emotional support calls for a multidisciplinary team that works together to coordinate patient care. Those diagnosed with von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease have a resource for complete and coordinated care in ...
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. In this article, Nirupa Raghunathan, MD, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, focus on the increasing use...
“With current therapies, the median survival for people with follicular lymphoma [FL] is about 20 years. Most people with FL will live as long as the general population, as it is a disease of morbidity more than mortality. That said, there is still room for improvement,” said formal CHRONOS-3...
The combination of the PI3K inhibitor copanlisib plus the monoclonal antibody rituximab reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 48% compared with placebo plus rituximab in patients with relapsed indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), according to the results of the phase III CHRONOS-3...
City of Hope has announced the renaming of its diabetes research center as the Arthur Riggs Diabetes & Metabolism Research Institute, in honor of its long-time director and research pioneer. Arthur Riggs, PhD, is known for scientific achievements that include developing the technology leading...
This is the first randomized trial that is positive for overall survival in uveal melanoma, and I’m very excited about the results, which I consider seminal and practice-changing,” said formal discussant Caroline Robert, MD, of Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France. “This is such a rare tumor, but it...
Dana-Farber Cancer Instituterecently announced a major expansion with the opening of a hospital facility in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, to provide increased cancer care and outpatient services for adult patients in the region. The new 140,000–square foot, state-of-art outpatient facility is...
By way of her family lineage, Aparna Parikh, MD, seemed destined for a career in medicine. “Both of my parents are physicians, as well as my maternal grandfather. I have two other siblings, all of whom are in the medical field. Medicine has always been part of my life since childhood. My parents...
Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital are using a type of machine learning to put a new twist on an established technique. The researchers created MethylationToActivity (M2A), a framework for using DNA methylation data to reveal promoter activity and gene expression. The results were...
“There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.” —Bernard Williams To complement The ASCO Post’s continued comprehensive coverage of the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting...
A team of researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has been awarded two research grants totaling $6 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to identify new ways to treat pancreatic cancer. “Pancreatic cancer is one of the ...
Treatment with tebentafusp—a novel bispecific fusion protein—reduced the risk of death from metastatic uveal melanoma by half, compared with available treatments, in a phase III study presented at the virtual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2021.1 This is the first...
Perspectives on ARIEL4 were provided for The ASCO Post by the invited discussant Ursula Matulonis, MD, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Chief of Gynecologic Oncology and the Brock Wilson Family Chair at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and by Konstantin Zakashansky, MD,...
In patients with BRCA-mutated, advanced, relapsed ovarian cancer, treatment with the PARP (poly [ADP-ribose] polymerase) inhibitor rucaparib led to a significant improvement in progression-free survival compared with standard-of-care chemotherapy, according to results of the international phase III ...
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...
Although head and neck cancers include multiple histologies and primary sites, squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) originating in the oropharynx, oral cavity, larynx, or hypopharynx are the most common. Today, we recognize several different types of head and neck diseases, primarily those that are human ...
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...
Cardio-oncology represents the intersection of cancer and cardiovascular disease. Cancer therapies can result in cardiovascular complications, and some patients become less attentive to their chronic disease management after a diagnosis of cancer. As cancer patients are living longer, for some,...
In a study reported in JACC: CardioOncology, Emily S. Lau, MD, of the Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, and colleagues found that the presence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors was significantly associated with an increased risk of future...
In 2020, the 8th Annual Beirut Breast Cancer Conference (BBCC) was our last in-person meeting. The first cases of COVID-19 started in Lebanon around the end of February 2020, and the pandemic continues into its second year, with waves of rising cases following superspreader events and other likely...
Yale School of Medicine recently announced a gift to establish the Chênevert Family Brain Tumor Center at Yale Cancer Center. The Center will be a leading institution in worldwide neuro-oncology research, bringing groundbreaking solutions and hope to patients with brain tumors. The gift will...
This week, The ASCO Post sat down with Dr. John Marshall, of the Lombardi Cancer Center at Georgetown University, and his wife, Liza Marshall, a former lawyer, active advocate for patients with cancer, and a breast cancer survivor. The Marshalls are the coauthors of a new book entitled Off Our...
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...