As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, and colleagues, the phase III IMpower110 trial has shown significantly prolonged overall survival with first-line atezolizumab vs platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)...
In a retrospective analysis reported in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics, Joseph Abi Jaoude, MD, of the American University of Beirut Medical Center, and colleagues found that a radiation boost did not reduce the risk of local recurrence among women with...
New agents for the treatment of advanced HER2-positive breast cancer should be coming soon to your clinic, according to Sara A. Hurvitz, MD, Director of the Breast Cancer Clinical Research Program and Associate Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of...
Here we present summaries of several additional clinical trials in HER2-positive breast cancer reported over the past year. Jame Abraham, MD, Chair of the Division of Hematology and Oncology at the Taussig Cancer Center, Cleveland Clinic, shared his perspective on several of these trials presented ...
Ian E. Krop, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, said that margetuximab is one of three new “exciting” drugs in the HER2-positive setting with different mechanisms of action; the other two are tucatinib and trastuzumab deruxtecan. “Margetuximab is a modified version of trastuzumab...
The second interim analysis of the phase III SOPHIA trial demonstrated a significant, though modest, improvement in progression-free survival, response rate, and clinical benefit with the addition of margetuximab to chemotherapy vs trastuzumab plus chemotherapy in patients with HER2-positive...
In the phase II monarcHER trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Sara M. Tolaney, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and colleagues, found that the combination of abemaciclib, fulvestrant, and trastuzumab prolonged progression-free survival vs trastuzumab plus standard-of-care...
This year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to three scientists who have made a decisive contribution to the fight against blood-borne hepatitis, a major global health problem that causes cirrhosis and liver cancer in people around the world. Harvey J. Alter, MD; Michael Houghton, ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Kater et al, 4-year progression-free and overall survival were significantly greater with venetoclax plus rituximab vs bendamustine plus rituximab in the phase III MURANO trial in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia....
On October 2, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) as first-line treatment for adult patients with unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma. CheckMate 743 Efficacy was investigated in CheckMate 743, a randomized,...
Based on some unexpected negative results, oncologists using atezolizumab for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer should pair it with nab-paclitaxel, not paclitaxel. In contrast to the overall survival benefit shown for atezolizumab plus nab-paclitaxel in the previous IMpassion130...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review to therapies for pretreated patients with multiple myeloma and pediatric patients with ALK-positive anaplastic large cell lymphoma; granted Fast Track designation to novel agents in gastric/gastroesophageal junction...
For patients with rectal adenocarcinoma treated with neoadjuvant therapy followed by operative resection, “achieving a pathologic complete response is associated with excellent long-term disease-free and overall survival,” according to the results of a study reported by Naomi M. Sell, MD, MHS, of...
Findings from ASCO’s fourth annual National Cancer Opinion Survey showed the toll the COVID-19 pandemic is taking on patients with cancer and the concerns over delays in scheduling cancer screenings. In addition, a majority of survey respondents acknowledged that racism can impact the care a person ...
In the phase III DANUBE trial, reported in The Lancet Oncology, Thomas Powles, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that durvalumab monotherapy did not prolong overall survival vs standard chemotherapy in previously untreated patients with largely metastatic urothelial carcinoma with high PD-L1...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Stephen R.D. Johnston, MD, PhD, and colleagues, the phase III monarchE trial has shown that adjuvant abemaciclib plus endocrine therapy significantly improved invasive disease–free survival vs endocrine therapy alone in patients with hormone...
Five years ago, as Rachel B. Issaka, MD, MAS, was beginning her second year as a gastroenterology fellow and feeling proud of the progress she was making in her training, she was suddenly confronted with an all-too-familiar slight that underrepresented minority providers may often experience. As...
In a paper published by Banerjee et al in JAMA Network Open, researchers reported that genetic testing is cost-effective and beneficial for newly diagnosed patients with metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), a type of soft-tissue sarcoma that develops in specialized nerve cells in the...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by David S. Hong, MD, and colleagues, the phase I CodeBreaK100 trial showed activity of the oral KRAS G12C inhibitor sotorasib in heavily pretreated patients with KRAS p.G12C–mutant advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), colorectal cancer,...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Gallamini et al, the final analysis of the phase III GITIL/FIL HD0607 trial has shown that consolidation radiotherapy did not improve progression-free survival vs no further treatment in patients with advanced Hodgkin lymphoma and a baseline large...
Each year in the United States, about five million adults with cancer are admitted to hospitals. Given our aging population, this trend will increase, putting added stress on the oncology community, which is already dealing with an impending workforce shortage. Although physician extenders, such...
MK-4830—a novel, first-in-class human IgG4 monoclonal antibody targeting the myeloid-specific anti–immunoglobulin-like transcript 4 (ILT4) receptor—administered either as a single agent or in combination with pembrolizumab was well tolerated and showed activity in heavily pretreated patients with...
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis is a minimally invasive genomic assessment tool utilizing targeted next-generation sequencing of peripheral blood. At the ESMO Virtual Congress 2020, Zengin et al reported genomic results from a large cohort of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Dores et al found that patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma continue to be at elevated risk for mortality from causes other than lymphoma, despite advances in treating this disease. As stated by the investigators, “Mortality for patients...
In a National Cancer Database analysis reported in JAMA Network Open, Amin et al found that among patients with brain metastases who underwent definitive surgery for primary tumors, the combination of immunotherapy and radiotherapy prolonged overall survival compared with radiotherapy alone. Study...
Upon hospital admission for cancer, many patients already demonstrated a high prevalence of malnutrition per Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria, which was associated with the risk of developing a nosocomial infection, according to findings presented by Nuñez Abad et al at...
In a Danish Breast Cancer Group phase III trial (DBCG HYPO) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Offersen et al found no difference in the rates of breast induration with moderately hypofractionated vs standard fractionated radiotherapy in women with early breast cancer or ductal carcinoma ...
In response to studies showing that between 30% and 60% of patients with blood cancer are at risk of death if infected with COVID-19 compared with patients who are cancer-free, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) has announced its launch of the first clinical trial dedicated solely to this...
A gift of $126 million to the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine will accelerate advances in finding cures for cancer and expand innovative treatment options. The donation is the single largest in the University of Miami’s 95-year...
Incidence rates for pancreatic cancer were 6-fold to 10-fold higher among participants in a study who had recent-onset diabetes and weight loss.1 This led the study authors to write: “The coexistence of these symptoms should be recognized by clinicians given that both the relative and absolute...
A large cohort study with close to 160,000 men and women reported that “recent-onset diabetes accompanied by weight loss was associated with a substantial increase in risk for pancreatic cancer and may represent a high-risk group in the general population for whom early detection strategies would...
In 2019, ASCO launched an Asia-Pacific Regional Council, a group of distinguished oncology leaders from countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The Council’s purpose is to advise ASCO on the needs of members in the region and facilitate and encourage member involvement in ASCO’s global activities....
MorphoSys and Incyte have announced that tafasitamab-cxix, a humanized Fc-modified cytolytic CD19-targeting monoclonal antibody, has been included in the latest National Comprehensive Cancer Network Clinical Practice Guidelines® (NCCN Guidelines®) in Oncology for B-Cell Lymphomas. Specifically,...
Conquer Cancer®, the ASCO Foundation has joined forces with the Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) to grant a 2020 Career Development Award (CDA) to a physician-scientist in Israel. The CDA supports early-career clinical and translational investigators during their first few years of faculty...
Cancer in My Community is a Cancer.Net Blog series that shows the global impact of cancer and how providers work to care for people with cancer in their region. Why I Care for People With Cancer When you tell someone that you are a pediatric oncologist and treat children with cancer, the first...
In the phase III VIALE-A trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Courtney D. DiNardo, MD, MSCE, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and colleagues found that venetoclax plus azacitidine significantly improved overall survival vs azacitidine alone in previously...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Jean-Jacques Grob, MD, PhD, of Aix-Marseille University, France, and colleagues, the first interim analysis of the phase II KEYNOTE-629 trial has shown the achievement of durable responses with pembrolizumab treatment of recurrent or metastatic...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Daniel O. Persky, MD, of the University of Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson, and colleagues, the phase II Intergroup National Clinical Trials Network Study S1001 has shown good outcomes with positron-emission tomography (PET)-directed therapy in...
In september, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released new data from the 2020 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS). The results, published by Wang et al in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), showed 1.8 ...
“Older adults form the majority of patients with cancer.” For more than 3 decades now, almost every article, presentation, or discussion related to cancer and aging started with this statement. As I entered the field of geriatric oncology, I thought that by simply stating this fact, everyone would...
Most of the newer systemic treatments for breast cancer can be safely and effectively paired with radiation therapy—although there are some exceptions, according to Mylin A. Torres, MD, the Louisa and Rand Glenn Family Chair in Breast Cancer Research and Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at ...
The first half of 2016 was arguably the most exciting of my life. My wife, Jaione, and I had decided to leave the United Kingdom and move with our two children, Andrew, then 14, and Alba, then 10, to Denver, where I was taking on a leadership role in corporate affairs for a brewery company. By the...
She was elderly, slightly confused, and very, very worried. I was not quite sure why. It was a minor procedure—a routine angiogram, one of a dozen to be performed that morning. The risks were so small that the job of admitting her had been handed to me, then a final-year medical student, with a...
Born in Brooklyn on April 4, 1919, Ezra M. Greenspan, MD, did not stray far from his birthplace, spending most of his 5-decade medical career in New York. After graduating from New York University School of Medicine in 1942, he was accepted into the house training program at Mount Sinai Hospital...
As a young girl growing up in central New Jersey, Joyce F. Liu, MD, MPH, a medical oncologist specializing in gynecologic cancers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, dreamed of becoming an astronaut. However, she realized her fear of heights and propensity for motion sickness didn’t jive with...
A researcher at the Indiana University (IU) Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center has been awarded a 5-year, $5.7 million National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant to evaluate long-term health outcomes for patients with cancer who receive platinum-based chemotherapies. An internationally...
On July 24, 2020, brexucabtagene autoleucel, a CD19-directed genetically modified autologous T-cell immunotherapy, was granted accelerated approval for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma.1,2 Brexucabtagene autoleucel is approved with a Risk Evaluation...
Outcomes in patients with triple-class–failure relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma who experience disease progression on immunomodulatory agents, proteasome inhibitors, and CD38 antibodies are dismal. Most recently, early results of three anti-B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) chimeric antigen...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Cristina Saura, MD, of Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona, and colleagues, the phase III NALA trial has shown significantly prolonged progression-free survival with the irreversible pan-HER tyrosine kinase inhibitor neratinib plus...
Findings from a study among patients with melanoma randomly assigned to observation following removal of a positive sentinel lymph node “strongly support the therapeutic effect of the sentinel lymph node biopsy in providing long-term regional nodal disease control in the large majority of...