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...
AN APPROACH using an RNA-based personalized cancer vaccine called RO7198457 in combination with the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab has shown a preliminary benefit, according to an early study in patients with advanced solid tumors. The novel combination was well tolerated, and 8% of patients showed a ...
In a phase I trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Timothy A. Yap, MBBS, PhD, FRCP, and colleagues identified recommended phase II doses of the first-in-class ATR (ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3–related) kinase inhibitor berzosertib alone and in combination with carboplatin and found...
In the phase IIb SADAL trial reported in The Lancet Haematology, Kalakonda et al found that the oral nuclear export inhibitor selinexor produced durable responses in patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Findings in the trial supported the recent accelerated U.S. Food...
In the Japanese single-center phase II EPOC1706 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Kawazoe et al found high objective response among patients with advanced gastric cancer who received the combination of lenvatinib and pembrolizumab as first- or second-line treatment. Study Details The trial...
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...
Extended analysis of the phase III KEYNOTE-426 study upholds pembrolizumab plus axitinib as a preferred front-line regimen over sunitinib in patients with advanced sporadic renal cell carcinoma.1 These updated results were presented at the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program by Elizabeth R. Plimack,...
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...
In a French study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Pistilli et al found that serum detection of nonadherence to adjuvant tamoxifen therapy was common and was associated with poorer distant disease-free survival among premenopausal women with breast cancer. Biochemical nonadherence was...
A visiting away elective is a resident’s designated time to visit another academic program to foster the growth of medical knowledge through patient care from the perspective of another health-care system and educational experience. The time dedicated to make this dream happen is grueling. First is ...
In a Korean trial reported in JAMA Surgery, Lee et al found that treatment with ursodeoxycholic acid was successful in preventing gallstone formation in patients who had undergone gastrectomy for gastric cancer. Study Details In the multicenter double-blind trial, 465 evaluable patients undergoing...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Panagiotis A. Konstantinopoulos, MD, and colleagues, a phase II trial has shown significantly prolonged progression-free survival with the addition of the ATR (ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3–related) kinase inhibitor berzosertib to gemcitabine in women with...
As reported in The Lancet by Gutzmer et al, the phase III IMspire150 trial has shown that the addition of atezolizumab to BRAF and MEK inhibitor therapy with vemurafenib and cobimetinib improved progression-free survival in first-line treatment of patients with unresectable BRAF V600–mutant...
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...
Men with prostate cancer on androgen-deprivation therapy are usually treated with leuprolide, a long-acting injectable luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonist requiring an every-3-month injection, but it may be possible for ADT to be delivered by a daily oral treatment, pending...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Vuky et al, long-term follow-up in the phase II KEYNOTE-052 study has shown durable responses with first-line pembrolizumab in cisplatin-ineligible locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer, with higher response rates and longer survival in...
In a European Intergroup for Childhood Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma/Children’s Oncology Group phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Minard‑Colin et al found that the addition of rituximab to standard Lymphomes Malin B (also known as Lymphome Malin de Burkitt, or LMB) chemotherapy ...
In a 10-year follow-up of the phase III SSGXVIII/AIO trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Heikki Joensuu, MD, and colleagues found that 3 years vs 1 year of adjuvant treatment with imatinib was associated with superior overall survival among patients with high-risk gastrointestinal stromal tumors. The ...
In 2018, researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute launched a large, ambitious screening study called PROMISE (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT03689595). The objectives of the study were to identify people with premalignant precursor conditions of multiple myeloma, understand the molecular...
The first symptoms I had of colorectal cancer—blood in my stool and abdominal pain—coincided with surgery I had to remove my appendix in the spring of 2017. My surgeon attributed the symptoms to the appendectomy and to the medications I received both before and after the surgery. In addition to...
An analysis of radiation therapy patterns among more than 12,000 Medicare patients treated for bone metastases found that 23.4% received extended-fraction radiation therapy, “wasting both health-care dollars and precious patient time,” according to the investigators.1 One-third of the treating...
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. Accumulating evidence suggests the benefits of physical activity through the cancer continuum....
On May 6, 2020, the oral mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) kinase inhibitor capmatinib was granted accelerated approval for the treatment of adult patients who have metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with tumors that have a mutation that leads to MET exon 14 skipping, as detected...
The path that led Donald I. Abrams, MD, to a career in oncology was a circuitous one. Although his love of science began when he was a student at Cleveland Heights High School in Ohio, and continued during college at Brown University, where he received an AB in molecular biology in 1972, he was...
As oncology trainees, we develop skills to synthesize complex data and communicate this information with empathy as we accompany our patients through the trenches of a cancer diagnosis. With the current COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented layer of challenges has surfaced, as our patients who are...
GUEST EDITOR Dr. Abraham is Professor of Medicine, Lerner College of Medicine, and Chair of the Hematology and Medical Oncology Department at Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland Clinic. In this edition of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with pioneering art ...
Question 1 Which of the following statements about mixed-cellularity classic Hodgkin lymphoma is correct? A. It has a female predominance. B. This type of classic Hodgkin lymphoma is relatively more common in developing nations and is frequently associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) positivity....
The ASCO Post is pleased to present Hematology Expert Review, an ongoing feature that occasionally quizzes readers on issues in hematology. In this first-part of a two-part installment, Drs. Abutalib and Medeiros highlight the histologically rare lymphocyte-rich type of classic Hodgkin lymphoma,...
On May 14, 2020, pomalidomide was granted accelerated approval to treat adult patients with AIDS-related Kaposi sarcoma after failure of highly active antiretroviral therapy and for Kaposi sarcoma in adult patients who are HIV-negative.1,2 Pomalidomide is available only through the restricted...
Breast surgical oncologist Laura S. Dominici, MD, was born and reared in Litchfield, a small town in the southern portion of New Hampshire. “Our house was on a long dirt road, in a very rural area,” she shared. “There were only about 5,000 residents in the town. My mother was a teacher, and my dad...
The text and photograph here are excerpted from a four-volume series of books titled Oncology: Tumors & Treatment, A Photographic History, The Anesthesia Era: 1845–1875 by Stanley B. Burns, MD, FACS, and Elizabeth A. Burns. The photograph appears courtesy of Stanley B. Burns, MD, and The Burns...
Early data from a clinical study published in Science Immunology1 suggest that blocking the Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) protein provided clinical benefit to a small group of patients with severe COVID-19 infection.1 Roschewski et al observed that the off-label use of the BTK inhibitor...
The PIK3CA inhibitor alpelisib appears to be effective 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, according to the phase II BYLieve trial.1 More...
The ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program was different in many ways, not only because of the virtual modality forced by the COVID-19 pandemic, but also because of the resilience of the scientific society and my colleagues around the world. I’m in the plenary session of the ASCO 2025 Annual Meeting....
Select Baylor College of Medicine faculty are honored annually through the Michael E. DeBakey, MD, Award for Excellence in Research for outstanding published scientific contributions to clinical and basic science research over a 3-year period. Included among the honorees for this year’s DeBakey...
On May 22, 2020, brigatinib was approved for the treatment of adult patients with ALK-positive, metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), as detected by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved test.1,2 The FDA also approved the Vysis ALK Break Apart FISH Probe Kit as a companion...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) welcomes Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, FAACR, as President of the organization for 2020–2021. He was inaugurated during the AACR Annual Business Meeting, held virtually on April 29, 2020. Dr. Ribas is Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of...
In the phase III REACH2 trial reported in TheNew England Journal of Medicine, Robert Zeiser, MD, of the Department of Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation, University Medical Center Freiburg, Germany, and colleagues found that the JAK1/2 inhibitor ruxolitinib improved response rate...
As reported inThe Lancet by Jeff P. Sharman, MD, of Willamette Valley Cancer Institute/US Oncology, Eugene, Oregon, and colleagues, the phase III ELEVATE-TN trial has shown significantly improved progression-free survival with both acalabrutinib/obinutuzumab and acalabrutinib monotherapy vs...
On May 29, 2020, ramucirumab was approved for use in combination with erlotinib for first-line treatment of metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with EGFR exon 19 deletion or exon 21 (L858R) substitution mutation.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings from the...
As reported in The Lancet by Matthew D. Galsky, MD, of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Tisch Cancer Institute, New York, and colleagues, the phase III IMvigor130 trial has shown prolonged progression-free survival with first-line atezolizumab plus platinum-based chemotherapy vs...
The global toll of breast cancer on women is staggering. In 2018, nearly two million new breast cancer cases were diagnosed, an increase of more than 20% since 2008,1 and mortality rates have increased by 14%, bringing the annual number of deaths worldwide from the cancer to more than 611,625.2...
On May 19, 2020, olaparib was approved for the treatment of adult patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline or somatic homologous recombination repair (HRR) gene-mutated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who experienced disease progression after treatment with...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms of action, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On May 15, 2020, the receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor...
In the phase II LOTUS trial, the addition of the AKT inhibitor ipatasertib to paclitaxel in the first-line treatment of patients with advanced triple-negative breast cancer yielded a strong numerical improvement—a median gain of 9 months—in overall survival, in the final survival analysis reported...
First- and second-line treatments of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer have become the standard of care based on solid gains in overall survival, but the prevalence of resistance to these agents is increasing; up to 55% of patients will ultimately develop brain metastases. According to a pair...
ASCO announced record-breaking attendance at its 3-day ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program, held online from May 29 through May 31. More than 42,700 attendees from 138 countries have participated thus far, learning virtually about new clinical cancer advances in every area of cancer research....
Worldwide, nearly 1.7 million women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Of that number, nearly 300,000 Americans and more than 500,000 Europeans will be diagnosed with both invasive and in situ breast cancers.1,2 Breast-preserving surgery will initially be performed on approximately 60% of...
Months ago, when I defined a theme for my year as ASCO President, “Equity: Every Patient. Every Day. Everywhere,” I never imagined we would experience a health-care pandemic that would disproportionally impact people of color. Nor could I know this would be the moment when yet another brutal crime ...