As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Daniel O. Persky, MD, and colleagues, the phase II Intergroup National Clinical Trials Network Study S1001 has shown good outcomes with positron-emission tomography (PET)-directed therapy in patients with limited-stage diffuse large B-cell lymphoma ...
Study discussant Michele Teng, PhD, of QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia, commented: “Cancer immunotherapy is a new pillar of cancer treatment. The aim is to improve the overall survival of patients with cancer, but there is room for improvement, and various...
In patients with newly diagnosed locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma, treatment with liposomal irinotecan plus fluorouracil (5-FU), leucovorin, and oxaliplatin (NALIRIFOX) resulted in a median progression-free survival of 9.2 months and a median overall survival of 12.6 months, ...
Jonathan W. Friedberg, MD, MMSc, has been appointed as the next Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO), the flagship journal of ASCO. JCO publishes cutting-edge research on the diagnosis and treatment of patients with cancer and is one of the most highly cited oncology journals...
On July 24, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to brexucabtagene autoleucel (Tecartus), a CD19-directed genetically modified autologous T-cell immunotherapy, for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma. “Tremendous...
David Sallman, MD, Assistant Member of the Malignant Hematology Department at Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, Florida, commented on these findings for The ASCO Post. “Although the hypomethylating agent azacitidine represents a standard of care for higher-risk myelodysplastic...
In higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), a global phase II open-label study found that the combination of pevonedistat plus azacitidine was associated with a trend toward improved event-free survival and numerically longer overall survival, as compared with azacitidine alone, according to...
Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, MHS, has been appointed Director of the Center for Community Engagement and Health Equity for Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital, as well as Chief Health Equity Officer and Deputy Chief Medical Officer at Smilow and Associate Cancer Center Director for Community ...
“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhumane because it often results in physical death. I see no alternative to direct action and creative nonviolence to raise the conscience of the nation.” —Martin Luther King, Jr, speaking before the Medical...
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the “Art of Oncology,” as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...
In hindsight, the symptoms I began experiencing in the winter of 2013, including pains in my chest and shoulders and a persistent cough, should have rung loud alarm bells. However, having undergone a pancreatectomy and splenectomy to cure a history of mucinous cystic neoplasms of the pancreas 5...
Markus Müschen, MD, PhD, has been appointed the inaugural Director of the Center of Molecular and Cellular Oncology at Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital. “As an innovative and highly productive physician-scientist, Dr. Müschen’s leadership experience and mentorship will be a tremendous...
LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr, MD, the Charles R. Drew Professor of Surgery at Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, DC, died on May 25, 2019, at the age of 89. The ASCO Post paid tribute to Dr. Leffall in its July 10, 2019, issue. Here, as part of our 10-Year Anniversary Series, we...
As medical professionals increasingly turn to online learning opportunities in the midst of COVID-19 restrictions on travel and gatherings, ASCO eLearning delivers valuable, up-to-date clinical care courses for physicians, nurses, and advanced practitioners on a robust platform that can be easily...
ASCO’s CancerLinQ® has launched the SmartLinQ™ QOPI® Certification Pathway, an application that empowers oncology practices to automate quality measure tracking and reporting for participation in ASCO’s Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI) Certification Program, a 3-year certification...
The American Urological Association (AUA), American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), and Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO) recently announced a new clinical practice guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of advanced prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed...
Minard-Colin et al recently reported for the European Intergroup for Childhood Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma/Children’s Oncology Group (EICNHL/COG) a significant improvement in event-free survival among children and adolescents (aged 6 months to 18 years) with high-risk mature B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma...
When taking care of a loved one with cancer, it’s natural to feel flooded with emotions—grief, guilt, and just plain old exhaustion. Feelings of inadequacy, doubt, or fear can sometimes pop up, too. Maybe you feel like you do not have the necessary skills to be a caregiver; maybe you feel like you...
ASCO has released a new guideline for the treatment of locally advanced esophageal cancer that will provide a context for the current standards of care, fill gaps in clinicians’ knowledge of therapy options, and help define future treatment.1 An expert panel developed the guideline based on 17...
In a European Intergroup for Childhood Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma/Children’s Oncology Group phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Véronique Minard‑Colin, MD, PhD, of Gustave Roussy, Université Paris-Saclay, Villejuif, France, and colleagues found that the addition of rituximab...
The University of Southern California (USC) Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Keck Medicine of USC, and the Keck School of Medicine of USC announced a $5 million gift from the Rosalie and Harold Rae Brown Charitable Foundation. The gift was received from Harold R. Brown, trustee of the...
Fox Chase Cancer Center, part of the Philadelphia-based Temple University Health System, recently announced two new additions to its staff. Shazia K. Nakhoda, MD, a graduate of the Fox Chase–Temple Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program, joins the center’s Department of Hematology/Oncology in the...
During its June meeting, the American Medical Association (AMA) Council on Legislation chose Marilyn J. Heine, MD, FACEP, FACP, FCPP, as its new Chair. The Council reviews proposed federal legislation and recommends appropriate action in accordance with AMA policy. It also develops model state...
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research, and the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group recently announced the awarding of more than $6.75 million to nine scientists. Each project will be supported by an award of $750,000 over a 3-year period. Grant Recipients The Blood ...
Yang Shi, PhD, recently joined the Oxford Branch of the United Kingdom’s Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. Dr. Shi, who comes to Ludwig from Harvard University, is a leader in the field of epigenetics, which explores how chemical modifications made to chromatin control the organization and...
Janice M. Mehnert, MD, a researcher in early-phase therapeutics and the treatment of skin malignancies, has been appointed Associate Director for Clinical Research at New York University Langone Health’s Perlmutter Cancer Center. Dr. Mehnert was Associate Professor of Medicine at Robert Wood...
The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) has announced the appointment of George Pentheroudakis, MD, PhD, as its new Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Pentheroudakis is Head of the Department of Medical Oncology at the Ioannina University Hospital in Greece and serves as Professor of Oncology at...
ESR1 mutations are known to confer resistance to endocrine therapy in the metastatic breast cancer setting. These mutations herald a poor prognosis, so their clearance early in the treatment course may greatly reduce the risk of recurrence, according to the early results of the prospective phase...
The American Cancer Society (ACS) and the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) announced agreements with the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer, Novartis, and Mylan to expand access to 20 cancer drugs in 26 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Purchasers are expected to save an average of 59%...
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, oncology providers from around the world had to forgo their annual trip to McCormick Place—but the show did go on. We all realized important research can still be presented, clinicians and fellow researchers will still listen, and ASCO presentations will still...
Patients who have breast cancers with double PIK3CA mutations seem to have a more robust response to PI3Kα inhibitors than those with a single PIK3CA mutation, based on an analysis of the phase III SANDPIPER trial, which tested taselisib plus fulvestrant, according to a presentation during the 2020 ...
Ahmad Tarhini, MD, PhD, Director of Cutaneous and Translational Research at Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, was optimistic about neoadjuvant use of nivolumab/ipilimumab and looks forward to further randomized studies. “Taken together, the results of the OpACIN and OpACIN-neo trials support the value ...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) hosted a virtual meeting on COVID-19 and cancer earlier this month (July 20–22, 2020). The virtual event, “COVID-19 and Cancer,” featured presentations from leaders in the fight against the pandemic, including three keynote lectures. In an opening ...
Discussant of the TATTON study presentation, Alexander Drilon, MD, Chief of Early Drug Development at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, finds the idea of combination therapy with a MET inhibitor and an EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor attractive for the treatment of EGFR...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has announced it will hold its 62nd Annual Meeting October 25–28, 2020, via an interactive virtual platform. The meeting, “Global Oncology: Radiation Therapy in a Changing World,” will feature reports from the latest clinical trials; panels on...
Immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors has made great strides in the treatment of many cancers, but only between 25% and 50% of patients respond with clinical benefit, and these agents come with adverse events and high price tags. Thus, preselection of patients who are likely to respond to ...
Some monuments are difficult to topple. At least that was the case dating back to 1976, when investigators from the Southwest Oncology Group demonstrated the importance of doxorubicin in the treatment of patients with a group of lymphoid malignancies then referred to as diffuse aggressive...
The combination of nivolumab plus ipilimumab was at least as effective as chemotherapy in front-line therapy for patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and brain metastases at baseline, according to the results of a post hoc analysis from part 1 of the phase III CheckMate 227...
An exploratory subgroup analysis of the KAMILLA trial represents the largest reported cohort of patients with HER2-positive breast cancer and brain metastases treated with the anti-HER2 antibody-drug conjugate ado-trastuzumab emtansine, or T-DM1, in a prospective setting. Researchers observed...
Newly released data on treatment outcomes of patients with cancer infected with COVID-19 revealed a racial disparity in access to remdesivir, an antiviral drug that has been shown to shorten hospital stays, and increased mortality associated with dexamethasone, a steroid that has had the opposite...
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) have announced a new collaboration to foster participation in oncology clinical trials to more fully reflect the diversity of people at risk for or living with cancer. The joint ASCO-ACCC initiative...
Kicking off the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Virtual Meeting: COVID-19 and Cancer earlier this week, Anthony Fauci, MD, gave the keynote lecture, “Coronavirus Infections: More Than Just the Common Cold.” As Dr. Fauci told listeners, “[COVID-19]—and other infectious...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review to pembrolizumab for the second-line treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma, and also accepted a supplemental new drug application for selinexor for pretreated patients with multiple myeloma....
New research outlines the role of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in the detection and management of recurrent disease in prostate cancer patients. In initial results from a multicenter trial assessing the impact of F-18 DCFPyL...
A first-in-human study presented at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) 2020 Annual Meeting and published by Zhang et al in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine has demonstrated the safety and favorable pharmacokinetic and dosimetry profile of Cu-64 EBRGD, a new, relatively...
In the phase III VIALE-A trial, venetoclax added to azacitidine led to a significant and clinically meaningful improvement in response rates and overall survival, as compared with azacitidine alone, in treatment-naive predominantly elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) ineligible for...
For people with cancer who have a mental health disorder, getting mental health treatment may help them live longer, a new study published by Berchuck et al in JAMA Oncology suggests. In the retrospective study, of more than 50,000 veterans treated for lung cancer within the Veterans Affairs (VA)...
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has proved to be a valuable treatment option for patients with lymphoma in whom other therapies have failed. In clinical trials, the cellular immunotherapy was shown to provide durable remissions for nearly 40% of patients with large B-cell lymphoma....
Two new studies led by Renuka Iyer, MD, Section Chief for Gastrointestinal Oncology at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, and published in Oncotarget and Cancer, respectively, highlight possible new treatment options for patients with neuroendocrine tumors. SurVaxM The first report,...
Lung cancer in nonsmokers is a diverse and distinct disease from lung cancer in smokers and is likely to respond differently to targeted treatments, according to results from a new study published by Chen et al in the journal Cell. Scientists studied a patient population in Taiwan with high rates...