Ahluwalia et al shared research results on SurVaxM at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting, reporting that combination therapy with the immunotherapy vaccine was more effective than standard therapy for nearly all patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma in a phase II trial (Abstract 2016). SurVaxM...
A new study examining Medicaid expansion and cancer screening found that the five states and District of Columbia that first adopted Medicaid expansion saw larger increases in colorectal cancer screening than states that did not expand Medicaid. The study—published by Fedewa et al in...
A recent, updated predictive analysis of the three World Health Organization (WHO)-defined molecular subgroups based on IDH mutation status and 1p/19q codeletion status represented in the high-risk treatment arms of a phase III trial found that both IDH-mutant subgroups may derive benefit ...
Two studies that explored types of discrimination and gender bias in health-care organizations were presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting. Discrimination Experienced by Fellows An abstract that reviewed discrimination and inclusion among hematology and oncology trainees was presented by...
On June 10, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the anti–programmed cell death protein 1 immunotherapy pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic or unresectable recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Pembrolizumab was...
On June 10, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to polatuzumab vedotin-piiq (Polivy), a CD79b-directed antibody-drug conjugate, in combination with bendamustine and a rituximab product for adult patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma...
The latest Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer finds that, for all cancer sites combined, cancer death rates continued to decline in men, women, and children in the United States from 1999 to 2016. Overall cancer incidence rates, or rates of new cancers, decreased in men from 2008...
As I write this, I think I’m making sense but am not 100% sure. My brain is a little scrambled after nearly 4 years of treatment for grade 4 glioblastoma multiforme, but I think the essence of my humor and humanity is still intact. When I experienced my first partial seizure while riding my...
Leaders of the Navajo Nation, the Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation (Tuba City), and the Cancer Support Community (CSC) joined Jill Biden, EdD, on the Navajo Nation in the opening of the first full-time cancer center on an American Indian reservation. The culturally adapted cancer care...
OneOncology, the national partnership of independent community oncologists, announced that it is entering into a new partnership with Arizona Blood & Cancer Specialists. The new practice will be the fourth to join OneOncology, a network already comprising 227 physicians practicing at 62 sites...
Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute recently announced that medical oncologist and hematologist Awais Khan, MD, has joined the practice and will be seeing patients at the Palm Coast office. Dr. Khan is board-certified in medical oncology and internal medicine. His research has...
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) announced its commitment to communities across Long Island with the dedication of MSK Nassau, an outpatient cancer treatment facility centrally located in Nassau County, New York. MSK’s newest location, and its third on Long Island, opened for patient...
John Theurer Cancer Center, part of Hackensack Meridian Health Hackensack University Medical Center and a leading cancer institution in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area, announced recently that it received approval from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as a research consortium member of ...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has recognized Cornelis J.M. Melief, MD, PhD, with the seventh AACR–Cancer Research Institute (CRI) Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology. Dr. Melief is Emeritus Professor at the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, as well as...
Richard T. Silver, MD, Professor of Medicine of the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology and Emeritus Director of the Myeloproliferative Neoplasms Center at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been awarded the 2019 European -LeukemiaNet (ELN) Merit Award in recognition of his contributions to the...
The Board of Directors of the National Association for Proton Therapy (NAPT) has awarded George Laramore, MD, PhD, FACR, FASTRO, of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Proton Therapy Center and the University of Washington, the 2019 NAPT Lifetime Achievement Award, in recognition of his decades of...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) recently announced the election of Ronald Walters, MD, to the role of Chair of the Board of Directors and Ruth O’Regan, MD, was named Vice Chair. Dr. Walters is Associate Head for the Institute for Cancer Care Innovation and a breast cancer...
BOOKMARK Title: Nine Pints: A Journey Through the Money, Medicine, and Mysteries of BloodAuthor: Rose GeorgePublisher: Metropolitan BooksPublication date: October 2018Price: $27.00, hardcover, 368 pages Blood has been mythologized and misunderstood since the earliest records of humankind and still ...
BOOKMARK Title: Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism: My Journey as a Vaccine Scientist, Pediatrician, and Autism DadAuthor: Peter J. Hotez, MD, PhDPublisher: Johns Hopkins University PressPublication date: October 2018Price: $22.95, hardcover; 240 pages English physician Edward Jenner invented...
An Oklahoma jury recently awarded $25.5 million to the widower of a 53-year-old woman diagnosed with stage IV nasopharyngeal cancer who was denied coverage for proton therapy by her health insurer, Aetna. The patient’s family subsequently raised $92,000 to cover her proton therapy at The University ...
Against the backdrop of the online crowd-sourcing initiative PCROWD and other research by faculty investigators on precursor conditions that may develop into leukemia, myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), or multiple myeloma, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has opened the Center for the Prevention of...
To complement The ASCO Post’s comprehensive coverage of the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on novel therapeutic regimens for plasma cell dyscrasias, particularly multiple myeloma. For full details of these study abstracts, visit ...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review for daratumumab in combination with a triplet therapy in multiple myeloma, Breakthrough Therapy designation to copanlisib for marginal zone lymphoma, and Fast Track designation for ARV-110 in metastatic...
Neoadjuvant treatment with nivolumab plus ipilimumab resulted in an overall major pathologic response rate of 33% of treated patients with early-stage, resectable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). With these results, the combination immunotherapy met the prespecified trial...
In addition to its well-known cardioprotective benefits, aspirin has a substantial body of observational, preclinical, and clinical evidence supporting its efficacy in preventing cancer, most strongly for colorectal cancer.1 The strength of this evidence led the U.S. Preventive Services Task...
Tyler Iorizzo, a PhD candidate in physics at UMass Lowell’s Advanced Biophotonics Laboratory, has won international recognition for his work in developing an imaging device that could lead to improved diagnosis and treatment of certain skin cancers. Mr. Iorizzo received an Educational Award from...
The Northern New England Clinical Oncology Society (NNECOS) is a tristate regional affiliate of ASCO serving oncology practices within Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. A long-time supporter of Conquer Cancer®, the ASCO Foundation, and its Young Investigator Award (YIA) program, NNECOS expanded...
In this debut episode of The ASCO Post Podcast, experts in breast, prostate, and lung cancers and multiple myeloma provide clinical insights about selected studies presented at the recent ASCO Annual Meeting, plus news from the FDA.
On May 24, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ruxolitinib (Jakafi) for steroid-refractory acute graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) in adult and pediatric patients 12 years and older. Approval was based on the REACH1 trial/Study INCB 18424-271, an open-label, single-arm, multicenter...
On May 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the NovoTTF-100L System in combination with pemetrexed plus platinum-based chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of unresectable locally advanced or metastatic malignant pleural mesothelioma. NovoTTF-100L is a noninvasive,...
On May 24, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the PIK3CA inhibitor alpelisib (Piqray) tablets to be used in combination with the FDA-approved endocrine therapy fulvestrant to treat postmenopausal women and men with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative, PIK3CA-mutated, advanced ...
The past 20 years have seen an unprecedented increase in the development of effective drugs for the management of cancer. The advent of immunotherapy offers even the promise of cure for some previously highly resistant diseases. The science is brilliant, the need is ever increasing—but the cost is ...
The evidence is in: the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has enabled improved access to earlier diagnosis, earlier care, and reduced racial disparities in access to care for patients with cancer, according to two studies presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting. In states that adopted Medicaid...
Harold Burstein, MD, PhD, FASCO, Associate Professor of Medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, Director of the Breast Oncology Program at Taussig Cancer Institute and Co-Director of the Cleveland Clinic Comprehensive Breast Cancer Program, commented on what...
In a trial presented by Baumann et al at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 6521), patients with locally advanced cancer treated with proton chemoradiotherapy instead of traditional photon chemoradiotherapy were at a lower risk of experiencing side effects. However, cure rates were almost...
In an effort to advance cancer data sharing and improve the quality and coordination of patient care, three health and technology organizations have established a core set of data elements and recommended technical specifications (the Minimal Common Oncology Data Elements [mCODE]) that are...
A specialized pain management program for patients who underwent robotic surgery for urologic cancers resulted in 8% of patients going home with narcotics after discharge, compared to 100% who would have received them without this enhanced recovery protocol. The group of patients...
Results of the phase II Smart Start trial revealed that combination targeted therapy consisting of rituximab, lenalidomide, and ibrutinib had an 84.6% overall response rate (ORR) and 38.5% complete response rate (CRR) when given prior to any chemotherapy for newly diagnosed patients with a...
In a propensity score analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bonnot et al found that the addition of hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) to cytoreductive surgery improved outcomes among patients with gastric cancer with peritoneal metastases. The study included 277...
Adam Brufsky, MD, PhD, of Magee-Womens Hospital and the Hillman Cancer Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, discusses phase III study findings on neratinib plus capecitabine vs lapatinib plus capecitabine in patients previously treated for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer...
Jason Westin, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses findings of the Smart Start study on the chemotherapy-free combination of rituximab, lenalidomide, and ibrutinib in newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (Abstract 7508).
Jame Abraham, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic, provides commentary on the NALA study findings on neratinib plus capecitabine vs lapatinib plus capecitabine in patients previously treated with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (Abstract 1002).
Kerry A. Rogers, MD, of The Ohio State University, discusses a 3-year follow-up of phase Ib safety and efficacy findings with the selective BTK inhibitor acalabrutinib and the anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody obinutuzumab in patients with CLL (Abstract 7500).
William G. Wierda, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the TRANSCEND CLL 004 trial, which studied the use of an experimental CD19-directed CAR T-cell product in heavily pretreated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma (Abstract ...
Yeon Hee Park, MD, of the Samsung Medical Center, discusses phase II study findings that showed exemestane plus palbociclib with ovarian suppression improved progression-free survival compared with capecitabine in premenopausal estrogen receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer (Abstract 1007).
Ahmad A. Tarhini, MD, PhD, of Emory University and Winship Cancer Institute, discusses phase III findings from the U.S. Intergroup E1609 trial, which showed survival benefits for patients with resected high-risk melanoma—for the first time in the history of melanoma adjuvant therapy (Abstract...
Richard Pazdur, MD, Director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Oncology Center of Excellence and Acting Director of the Office of Hematology and Oncology Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, discusses the launch of Project Facilitate, a new pilot program to...
A questionnaire aimed at assessing how well community oncologists understand “molecular profiling” results from tumor specimens found that 69% of participants either said they didn't know the answers or they responded incorrectly. In six different clinical scenarios, the oncologists...
Partial-breast irradiation produces similar long-term survival rates and risk for recurrence compared with whole-breast irradiation for many women with low-risk, early-stage breast cancer, according to new data from the NRG Oncology/NSABP B-39/RTOG 0413 trial. Results were presented by Ganz et al...
Sara A. Hurvitz, MD, of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the first study of ribociclib plus endocrine therapy vs endocrine therapy alone to demonstrate significantly longer overall survival in peri- and premenopausal women with advanced breast cancer (Abstract LBA1008).