Sarcoma Alliance for Research Through Collaboration (SARC) recently announced the appointment of Jonathan Fletcher, MD, as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). This is a new role at the nonprofit cancer research organization, a leader in collaborative discovery, translational research, and clinical...
There are currently more than 3.8 million breast cancer survivors living in the United States, and 3 out of 10 women with invasive breast cancer will develop metastases. However, if some breast cancer cells remain after treatment, the amount is often too small to be detected by mammograms or...
After an extensive national search, Yale School of Medicine and Yale New Haven Health have announced that Eric P. Winer, MD, FASCO, will be the next Director of Yale Cancer Center and Physician-in-Chief of Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven, effective February 1, 2022. Nita Ahuja, MD, MBA,...
In a single-institution study reported in Cancer, Bei Hu, MD, of the Department of Hematologic Oncology and Blood Disorders, Levine Cancer Institute/Atrium Health in Charlotte, and colleagues found that use of a dedicated nurse navigation program contributed to redressing the recognized inequities...
The American Cancer Society (ACS) and Flatiron Health recently presented the 2021 Real-World Data Impact Awards, which will support research into health disparities among patients with advanced pancreatic and breast cancers. This year marks the third year of the joint grant-making program, under...
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 installment, Ting Bao, MD, DABMA, MS, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, focus on shiitake mushroom ...
In this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, spoke with Masakazu Toi, MD, PhD, a clinical breast cancer expert who is keen on research that translates basic science into clinical study. He is involved in various innovative research projects on the development ...
Bortezomib, thalidomide, and dexamethasone (VTd) is an acceptable, effective standard-of-care induction treatment in Europe for patients with newly diagnosed myeloma who are eligible for autologous stem cell transplantation. CASSIOPEIA is a two-part, open-label, randomized, phase III trial in...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Philippe Moreau, MD, of the University Hospital Hôtel-Dieu, Nantes, and colleagues, an interim analysis of part 2 of the phase III CASSIOPEIA trial has showed significantly prolonged progression-free survival with maintenance daratumumab vs observation...
Tools that make it easier for patients to access care and for their physicians to monitor their health status have also emerged with the advent of digital resources. In the closing panel of the NCCN Policy Summit, participants described tools developed by their own organizations to improve quality...
Artificial intelligence, digital therapeutics, telehealth, biometric monitoring: the terms alone are enough to suggest that cancer care is entering a new age, one characterized by tools and practices based on technologic innovation. To explore the impact of these new tools, the National...
National surveys consistently show that spirituality and religion are important components in the lives of most Americans, with more than 90% of adults expressing a belief in God and more than 70% identifying religion as one of the most important influences in their lives.1 Studies also show that...
On November 2, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the 2022 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) and Quality Payment Program (QPP) final rule. Although ASCO will analyze the rule in greater detail in the coming days, initial highlights from the rule are outlined...
A recent study published in JCO Oncology Practice found that patients with certain cancers have a higher mortality risk than those with other cancer types if they have contracted the novel coronavirus (SARS–CoV-2).1 Specifically, older patients with B-cell malignancies who acquire SARS–CoV-2 who...
ASCO has compiled a number of resources to help people with cancer navigate COVID-19. Coronavirus and COVID-19: What People With Cancer Need to Know Cases of COVID-19 have arisen all over the world. Here’s what people with cancer and cancer survivors need to know about the disease. Available at...
Fidel Valea, MD, recently announced his appointment as System Chief of Gynecologic Oncology at Northwell Health and Director of Gynecologic Oncology at the Northwell Health Cancer Institute. He will see patients in New Hyde Park, New York, and Manhattan. In his role as System Chief of Gynecologic...
Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, Chairman of the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at the Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, recently announced the appointment of Craig Sauter, MD, as the new Director of Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at the Cleveland...
Physician leader and clinical and translational investigator Saad Z. Usmani, MD, MBA, FACP, recently joined Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) as Chief of Myeloma Service. He was also appointed Professor at the Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Dr....
The Henry E. Haller Jr. Foundation and the Walther Cancer Foundation together will donate a total of $1.5 million to the Purdue Center for Cancer Research and the College of Science in Cancer Biology in West Layfayette, Indiana. A donation of $750,000 from the Henry E. Haller Jr. Foundation was...
Estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer is the most common type of breast cancer, diagnosed in more than 2.3 million women around the world each year, including more than 200,000 in the United States alone. Adjuvant endocrine therapy is a mainstay of treatment for these millions of women and is a...
Although cancer in adolescents and young adults (AYAs), defined by the National Cancer Institute as those between the ages of 15 and 39, is relatively rare—in 2020 nearly 90,000 AYAs were diagnosed with cancer and about 9,300 died of the disease1—and 5-year relative survival rates are high, between ...
In an Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group phase III trial (ABCSG-16/SALSA) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Michael Gnant, MD, of the Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, and colleagues found no difference in disease-free survival with 2 vs 5...
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Rare Cancer Research Foundation have launched a collaboration designed to accelerate the development of new treatments for rare cancers by empowering all patients in the United States to contribute tumor samples directly to MD Anderson for...
Renal cell carcinoma is a common malignancy among men and women in the United States.1 The incidence continues to increase with the ever-increasing use of contemporary medical imaging. Although many patients who present with localized disease are cured with definitive surgery, some patients develop ...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Toni K. Choueiri, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and colleagues, an interim analysis of the phase III KEYNOTE-564 trial has showed improved disease-free survival with adjuvant pembrolizumab vs placebo after nephrectomy in high-risk...
“Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.” —Mark Twain To complement The ASCO Post’s extensive coverage of the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on novel treatments under study in high-risk multiple myeloma. For...
Inhibition of the androgen receptor pathway (AR) with novel hormonal therapies such as abiraterone acetate has greatly improved outcomes for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer in recent years. However, through numerous mechanisms, tumors ultimately develop resistance...
In a phase III trial (IPATential150) reported in The Lancet, Christopher Sweeney, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and colleagues, found that the addition of the AKT inhibitor ipatasertib to abiraterone and prednisolone produced a significant improvement in radiographic progression-free...
During an International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) press briefing, Paul Wheatley-Price, MRCP, commented as the patient advocate on the panel. Dr. Wheatley-Price is Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Ottawa, lung cancer disease site lead at Ottawa Hospital...
Low-dose lung cancer screening by computed tomography (CT) is associated with a 16% relative reduction in lung cancer mortality over no lung cancer screening of high-risk individuals, based on a meta-analysis conducted by investigators with the United Kingdom Lung Cancer Screening (UKLS) trial.1...
Invited discussant of CheckMate 743, Pilar Garrido, MD, PhD, pointed out there has been little progress in treating patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma over the past 15 years, and there are limited therapeutic options. Dr. Garrido is Associate Professor of Medical Oncology at Universidad...
Updated results from the phase III CheckMate 743 trial support the durable and superior benefits of immunotherapy with nivolumab plus ipilimumab over chemotherapy as first-line treatment for patients with unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma.1 In the most recent updated analysis of the...
Invited study discussant of the DESTINY-Lung01 trial, Daniel Shao Weng Tan, BSc, MD, PhD, of the National Cancer Center, Singapore, commented: “The trial clearly showed that T-DXd [fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan--nxki] is active in HER2-mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The median...
Previously treated patients with HER2-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) achieved encouraging response rates and duration of response to the antibody-drug conjugate fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) in the phase II DESTINY-Lung01 trial. These results were reported at the European...
The ASCO Post has published a wealth of practice-changing studies and news about other advances presented during the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2021. In addition to the biggest news from this international meeting, here are several summaries of interesting study findings...
According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an estimated 19.3 million new cancer cases occurred worldwide in 2020, resulting in almost 10 million deaths. The IARC projects a 50% rise in global cancer incidence and mortality by 2040. To help control this looming crisis,...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review to a gene therapy for patients with β-thalassemia, and Fast Track designation to a SETD2 inhibitor for patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Priority Review: Betibeglogene Autotemcel for...
On November 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved sirolimus protein-bound particles for injectable suspension (albumin-bound; Fyarro) for adult patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic malignant perivascular epithelioid cell tumor (PEComa). AMPECT Trial Efficacy ...
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 October 13, 2021, pembrolizumab in combination with...
Newly identified genetic abnormalities in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), as well as therapies that can target some of those abnormalities, are now available as the landscape for treatment continues to evolve. During the 2021 National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Annual Congress: Hematologic...
During its virtual Annual Meeting 2021 held on November 9 and 10, Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) urged all stakeholders in the cancer community to work together to optimize dosing in oncology drug development to maximize benefit for patients and reduce treatment toxicity, and to abandon the...
At a press conference at the 2021 ASTRO Annual Meeting, Steven J. Chmura, MD, PhD, Professor of Radiation Oncology and Scientific Director of the Cancer Clinical Trials Office, University of Chicago, commented on the CURB study results. “Most trials of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT)...
Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) lengthens progression-free survival for patients with advanced lung cancer who have oligoprogression (ie, tumors that have not been fully responsive to systemic chemotherapy or immunotherapy), according to an interim analysis of the CURB oligoprogression...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Jonathan R. Strosberg, MD, and colleagues, the final overall survival analysis of the pivotal phase III NETTER-1 trial has shown an approximate 12-month benefit with the addition of lutetium-177 (Lu-177) dotatate to long-acting octreotide in patients with...
Young adults diagnosed with cancer may require different treatments than those received by older patients, according to a study that systematically compared the genomes of 14 different types of cancers affecting both younger and older adults. The results, published by Lee et al in Cell Reports,...
Invited discussant Elizabeth Nichols, MD, of the University of Maryland, School of Medicine, Baltimore, commented on both the phase II TRIUMPH-T and the phase III MC1635 trials. “There are multiple techniques in use for accelerated partial breast irradiation. Optimal dose and fractionation are...
Two studies reported at the 2021 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting provide evidence in support of the use of accelerated radiation therapies as safe alternatives to standard radiotherapy options following breast-conserving surgery. The phase III MC1635 trial showed...
In the United States, the incidence-based mortality related to non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has decreased by approximately 3% each year since 2008 in men; during the same period, the mortality in women decreased by 2% to 4% annually.1 Although multiple factors are likely responsible for the...
When I was diagnosed with osteosarcoma of my left femur nearly 20 years ago, I remember telling my parents that I didn’t want to die. The diagnosis was terrifying because all the people I knew who had cancer had passed away, and I thought this cancer would kill me, too. That evening, my dad went...
Sophia C. Kamran, MD, Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital, commented on the NRG Oncology GU003 study at a press conference where this abstract was discussed. Dr. Kamran was not involved in this trial. “This is a potentially practice-changing study in an area ...