Positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) imaging with the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted radiotracer fluorine F-18 DCFPyL (PyL) successfully identified areas of occult metastasis in men with biochemically recurrent metastatic castration-resistant prostate...
Targeting MET alterations with savolitinib appears to be a better strategy than sunitinib for patients with MET-driven papillary renal cell carcinoma, according to results of the open-label, randomized, phase III SAVOIR trial.1 Patients with MET-driven metastatic papillary renal cell carcinoma...
In a poster presentation at the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program, Mansoor Raza Mirza, MD, of the the Department of Oncology, Rigshopitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark, and colleagues reported the final analysis of the phase II NSGO-AVANOVA2/ENGOT-OV24 trial comparing the...
In the final, preplanned, overall survival analysis in the randomized phase III SOLO2/ENGOT-ov211 trial, maintenance treatment with the PARP inhibitor olaparib extended overall survival by an unprecedented 12.9 months, compared with placebo. This marks the first time that overall survival has been...
Two gynecologic oncologists and ASCO’s Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President Richard L. Schilsky, MD, FACP, FSCT, FASCO, commented on the findings of the TROPHIMMUN trial for The ASCO Post. “The authors demonstrate efficacy of a new treatment approach for gestational trophoblastic...
Almost 50% of patients resistant to single-agent chemotherapy responded in the first trial of immunotherapy for gestational trophoblastic tumors, reported French investigators in an abstract presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program.1 Benoit You, MD, PhD, of Lyon University Hospital,...
Bilateral pelvic lymphadenectomy represents the current “gold standard” for lymph node staging in cervical cancer—but an assessment of disease-free and disease-specific survival among patients with early-stage cervical cancer determined that sentinel lymph node biopsy alone is a valid standard of...
The phase II BYLieve trial indicates the effectiveness of the PIK3CA inhibitor alpelisib in patients with PIK3CA-positive, hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative advanced breast cancer previously treated with a cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitor plus an aromatase inhibitor. These results...
Tucatinib, a small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor that is highly selective for HER2, plus trastuzumab/capecitabine significantly improved central nervous system (CNS) progression-free survival, overall survival, and intracranial response rate vs placebo plus trastuzumab/capecitabine, as shown...
Discussant for the CheckMate 227 and CheckMate 9LA trials, Scott N. Gettinger, MD, of Yale Cancer Center in New Haven, Connecticut, said: “There is tremendous interest in lung cancer to combine nivolumab plus ipilimumab, driven by the melanoma experience. However, combinations of immunotherapy come ...
Advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in patients whose tumors have no EGFR or ALK alterations poses a particular challenge in terms of first-line therapy. The use of nivolumab plus ipilimumab as well as nivolumab/ipilimumab plus two cycles of chemotherapy, respectively, as first-line therapy ...
When added to bortezomib and dexamethasone in patients with multiple myeloma, selinexor significantly improved progression-free survival and response rates, with a lower incidence of peripheral neuropathy, compared with bortezomib/dexamethasone alone, according to results from the global phase III...
Treatment with the anti–PD-1 agent pembrolizumab significantly improved progression-free survival in patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma compared with standard brentuximab vedotin, according to results of the phase III KEYNOTE-204.1 The study results were presented during the ASCO20 Virtual...
Philip McCarthy, MD, Professor of Oncology and Internal Medicine and Director of the Transplant and Cellular Therapy Center at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, New York, found the results of the DREAMM-6 study to be “exciting and promising.” He commented: “The overall response...
Treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma yielded responses with the antibody-drug conjugate belantamab mafodotin, both as a single agent and in combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone. Two reports from the DREAMM team expanded on these findings at the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific...
Results of the phase III E2108 study indicate that surgery and radiotherapy given after systemic treatment afforded no additional survival benefit among women with newly diagnosed metastatic breast cancer. The practice may, however, reduce locoregional progression of disease, according to a report...
The importance of first-line therapy in multiple myeloma is that the first therapy typically achieves the most impact, and subsequent lines of therapy tend to be less effective, explained ENDURANCE study discussant Jesús G. Berdeja, MD, Director of Myeloma Research at the Sarah Cannon Research...
No superior efficacy was shown with the combination of carfilzomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (KRd) in newly treated patients with standard- and intermediate-risk multiple myeloma who are not slated for immediate autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT), compared with the standard of care: ...
Sharing his perspective on KEYNOTE-177 with The ASCO Post was Axel Grothey, MD, Director of GI Cancer Research at the West Cancer Center, OneOncology, Memphis. “This is a very important, highly anticipated study,” he said. “It’s the first randomized trial of any checkpoint inhibitor in...
Upfront treatment with immunotherapy not only improved results in a subset of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, it doubled the rates of median progression-free survival. These findings—the first of their kind—arose from the interim analysis of the randomized open-label phase III...
“These data are solid, showing a 7-month improvement in overall survival in patients with stable disease or better after first-line chemotherapy. This is roughly a 50% improvement in survival, which is clinically meaningful. Also, progression-free survival was significantly increased with...
According to an interim analysis of the phase III JAVELIN Bladder 100 trial, rates of survival among patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma who did not progress on first-line platinum-based chemotherapy were significantly prolonged by maintenance therapy with avelumab and best supportive care...
Lecia V. Sequist, MD, who was not involved in the ADAURA study, said this could be a practice-changing study. Dr. Sequist is the Landry Family Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Center for Innovation in Early Cancer Detection at Massachusetts General Hospital....
The global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic forced many cancer societies, including ASCO, to cancel their in-person meetings this year and instead present the latest advancements and new approaches in oncology care via a virtual platform. For the first time in its 56-year history, the ASCO Annual...
This week on The ASCO Post Podcast, we’ll be hearing from the presenters of three abstracts focused on multiple myeloma presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program.
Sarah A. Holstein, MD, PhD, of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, discusses top myeloma abstracts from the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program: the ENDURANCE trial on carfilzomib, lenalidomide, dexamethasone, and bortezomib; the STaMINA study on transplantation strategies; a first-in-human...
Elias Jabbour, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses study findings that showed venetoclax and navitoclax with chemotherapy is well tolerated, with promising efficacy in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia and...
Michael J. Dickinson, MBBS, DMedSc, of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, discusses phase I dose-escalation study results on CD20-TCB, which showed activity, including durable complete responses, and manageable safety in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma...
Anthony Moorman, PhD, of Newcastle University, discusses preliminary data showing high-risk patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and ABL-class mutations may have improved outcomes when a tyrosine kinase inhibitor is added to chemotherapy (Abstract S117).
Courtney D. DiNardo, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses data from her study of treatment-naive, predominantly older patients with acute myeloid leukemia who are ineligible for intensive therapy. The research shows venetoclax plus azacitidine improved response rates...
In a new study published by Wentzensen et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, a computer algorithm improved the accuracy and efficiency of cervical cancer screening compared with cytology (Papanicolaou [Pap] test), the current standard for follow-up of women who test positive in...
For patients with neuroendocrine tumors and liver metastases, a new radiopharmaceutical, Ga-68 DOTA-JR11, has shown a benefit in imaging for tumor detection, staging, and restaging, providing important information to guide treatment. In a head-to-head comparison of two somatostatin receptor (SSTR)...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review to relugolix for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer; Fast Track designation to a radioimmunotherapeutic treatment for marginal zone lymphoma; and Orphan Drug designation to a novel monoclonal antibody for...
In a new study published by Wentzensen et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, a computer algorithm improved the accuracy and efficiency of cervical cancer screening compared with cytology (Papanicolaou [Pap] test), the current standard for follow-up of women who test positive in...
For patients with neuroendocrine tumors and liver metastases, a new radiopharmaceutical, Ga-68 DOTA-JR11, has shown a benefit in imaging for tumor detection, staging, and restaging, providing important information to guide treatment. In a head-to-head comparison of two somatostatin receptor (SSTR)...
Courtney D. DiNardo, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses data from her study of treatment-naive, predominantly older patients with acute myeloid leukemia who are ineligible for intensive therapy. The research shows venetoclax plus azacitidine improved response rates...
At the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer 2020 Virtual, Javle et al reported that third- and later-line treatment with the selective fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) 1–3 inhibitor infigratinib resulted in a progression-free survival and...
According to an additional analysis from the POLO trial, safety of maintenance olaparib in patients with a germline BRCA1 and/or BRCA2 mutation and metastatic pancreatic cancer is consistent, irrespective of age. Patients aged ≥ 65 years derived long-term progression-free survival benefit and...
On June 30, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved avelumab (Bavencio) for the maintenance treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma that has not progressed with first-line platinum-containing chemotherapy. JAVELIN Bladder 100 Efficacy of avelumab...
Abhishek Maiti, MBBS, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses his analysis showing that 10-day decitabine and venetoclax led to superior outcomes compared with intensive chemotherapy in older patients with acute myeloid leukemia, with benefits most pronounced in people at...
In a study published by Wolpert et al in the European Journal of Cancer, venous thromboembolic events (VTE) were reported in 12% of a cohort of patients with cancer that had metastasized to the brain. Researchers identified thrombogenicity of primary tumor, immobilization, chemotherapy, obesity,...
A new study published by Savitch et al in the Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery found that black patients are less likely to receive surgery for resectable esophageal cancer, which may contribute to higher rates of death. “National guidelines suggest that early-stage esophageal cancer should be...
On June 29, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the first-line treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic microsatellite instability–high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) colorectal cancer. KEYNOTE-177 Approval was based on...
On June 29, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new fixed-dose combination of pertuzumab, trastuzumab, and hyaluronidase-zzxf (Phesgo) for subcutaneous injection in the following indications: Use in combination with chemotherapy as: Neoadjuvant treatment for patients with...
Parameswaran Hari, MD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin, discusses data from four trials and their clinical implications for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma: the KarMMa and EVOLVE studies on CAR T cell therapies; SWOG-1211 on bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamthasone...
In patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma, a novel combination of biomarkers from baseline tumor tissues was predictive of improved clinical responses and prolonged survival following treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors, according to findings published by Goswami et al in Science...
With this week bringing record highs of COVID-19 infection across the nation, on The ASCO Post Podcast, we’re revisiting two presentations from the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program on the effect of the virus on patients with cancer.
Scientists studying a common TP53 R337H variant found among people of Brazilian descent discovered that a variant in the tumor-suppressor gene XAF1 increases cancer risk when combined with the inherited TP53 R337H mutation. These findings were published by Pinto et al in Science Advances. “We...
In a study that investigated objective measures of sedentary behavior and cancer mortality, researchers found that greater inactivity was independently associated with a higher risk of dying from cancer. An accelerometer was used to measure physical activity, rather than relying on participants to...
Conquer Cancer®, the ASCO Foundation honored recipients of the 2020 Medical Student Rotation for Underrepresented Populations (MSR), Resident Travel Awards for Underrepresented Populations (RTA), Long-Term International Fellowship (LIFe), and International Development and Education Awards (IDEA)...