In the phase III TELESTAR trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Matthew H. Kulke, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and colleagues, telotristat ethyl, an investigational tryptophan hydroxylase inhibitor, significantly reduced the frequency of bowel movements in patients with...
A scalp-cooling device was found safe and effective in preventing chemotherapy-induced hair loss in women undergoing adjuvant treatment for breast cancer in an interim analysis of the first prospective, randomized trial of a modern scalp-cooling system. The study was presented at the 2016 San...
At the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, a group of breast cancer experts made a case for using the 21-gene Oncotype DX Breast Recurrence Score Assay in node-positive patients, despite ASCO’s latest recommendations to restrict it to node-negative estrogen receptor–positive patients. The...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved ibrutinib (Imbruvica) for the treatment of patients with marginal zone lymphoma who require systemic therapy and have received at least one prior anti–CD20-based therapy. Accelerated approval was granted for this indication based on...
As reported by Plimack et al in The Lancet Oncology, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) has shown activity in patients in the locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma cohort included in the phase Ib KEYNOTE-012 trial. Study Details In the study, 33 patients with locally advanced or metastatic...
In the phase III OAK trial reported in The Lancet by Rittmeyer et al, treatment with the anti–programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) antibody atezolizumab (Tecentriq) improved overall survival vs docetaxel in previously treated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Results of the trial...
In a phase I study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Rudin et al found that rovalpituzumab tesirine, a first-in-class antibody-drug conjugate directed against delta-like protein 3 (DLL3), produced responses in patients with recurrent small cell lung cancer (SCLC). DLL3 is a target identified in...
CancerLinQ LLC has announced that George A. Komatsoulis, PhD, will be its first Chief of Bio-Informatics. This marks another step toward the organization’s goal of making the CancerLinQ® platform the premier system for unlocking patient data from millions of electronic health records, breaking...
On March 10, 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted regular approval to dinutuximab (formerly known as chimeric 14.18 antibody; Unituxin) for use in combination with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), interleukin-2 (IL-2), and 13-cis-retinoic acid...
On November 21, 2016, daratumumab (Darzalex) was approved for use in combination with lenalidomide (Revlimid) and dexamethasone or with bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least one prior therapy.1,2 The drug was initially ...
Oncologists may be accustomed to looking for commonalities in patients, but highly personalized therapies are now being developed based on mutational analysis of tumors. According to data presented at the Cedars-Sinai annual symposium on New Therapeutics in Oncology: The Road to Personalized...
Positive studies about brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma1 and rituximab (Rituxan) maintenance therapy in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL)2 were reported at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Hematology (ASH). “These abstracts each focus on approved agents and...
In part 1 of a phase III equivalence trial reported in JAMA, Rugo et al found that treatment with trastuzumab (Herceptin) or a proposed trastuzumab biosimilar in combination with a taxane produced similar overall response rates in patients with previously untreated metastatic HER2-positive breast...
ASCO today released Criteria for High-Quality Clinical Pathways in Oncology, a set of 15 inter-related criteria that provide an overarching framework for assessing pathway programs in the United States. ASCO developed the criteria to guide stakeholders in assessing the quality, utility, and...
Biosimilars are among the newest threads in the fabric of cancer treatment in the United States, and they are spawning numerous questions for oncologists and patients with cancer. Many of these questions were taken up by participants in a recent Washington forum on “The Future of the U.S....
CancerLinQ LLC, a wholly owned nonprofit of ASCO, has announced that more than 1 million patient records are now in the CancerLinQ™ platform. In addition, 70 practices have signed agreements to participate in CancerLinQ™, representing more than 1,500 oncologists. “We are excited to reach this...
Earlier this month, ASCO announced it has collaborated with Innovative Oncology Business Solutions, Inc (IOBS) to launch ASCO COME HOME, a patient-centered oncology medical home, to help transition community oncology practices from volume-based care to value-based care and to prepare oncologists to ...
In the phase III TELESTAR trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Kulke et al, telotristat ethyl, a tryptophan hydroxylase inhibitor, significantly reduced the frequency of bowel movements in patients with metastatic neuroendocrine tumors and carcinoid syndrome. Telotristat ethyl...
Seattle Genetics, Inc, and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited have announced completion of patient enrollment in the ECHELON-2 clinical trial. ECHELON-2 is a global phase III randomized trial evaluating brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) as part of a front-line combination chemotherapy regimen in...
On November 2, ASCO and Innovative Oncology Business Solutions, Inc, (IOBS) announced a new collaboration, ASCO COME HOME, an oncology medical home program designed to transition community oncology practices from volume-based to value-based care by structuring reimbursement around the full...
The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network recently announced Precision Promise, the first large-scale precision medicine trial designed to transform outcomes for patients with pancreatic cancer. The organization also announced the 12 initial Precision Promise Clinical Trial Consortium sites selected to...
In a Chinese phase III trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Sun et al found that adding induction treatment with cisplatin, fluorouracil (5-FU), and docetaxel (TPF) to concurrent chemoradiotherapy improved failure-free survival in locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Study Details...
Pilot Study Title: Pilot Trial of an Implantable Microdevice for in Vivo Drug Sensitivity Testing in Patients With Early-Stage, HER2-Positive, or Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Receiving Neoadjuvant Therapy Study Type: Pilot/interventional/single-group assignment Study Sponsor and Collaborators:...
A multibasket phase Ib study evaluating the clinical activity, tolerability, and antitumor activity of the cytokine-based immunotherapy AM0010 alone or in combination with the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) has found that in monotherapy, objective responses to AM0010 were ...
Weight Watchers International, Inc, has launched Project LIFT—Live Inspired, Fight Together—a new movement, in collaboration with the American Cancer Society, to inspire and guide breast cancer survivors with free resources focused on tackling the unexpected weight gain that can follow breast...
The Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO (CCF) presented more than $6.1 million in grants and awards to nearly 250 promising oncology researchers at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting. The Conquer Cancer Foundation and ASCO congratulate the recipients on their contributions to the field of oncology and...
The combination of more precise diagnostic tools and advances in surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and targeted therapy in the treatment of cancer has led to unprecedented numbers of cancer survivors in the United States—more than 15.5 million, according to the latest figures from the...
“We are in an era of unprecedented scientific opportunities in cancer research,” said Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), Executive Officer, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), as she introduced the Congressional briefing, “Seizing Today’s Opportunities to Accelerate Cancer Research.” “Thanks ...
“Have you received your immune checkpoint inhibitor yet?” I suspect St. Peter may have started asking this question routinely at the Pearly Gates to Heaven. If St. Peter has not, I am sure most oncologists have. With extensive media coverage on the approval of nivolumab (Opdivo) and pembrolizumab...
Heron Therapeutics, Inc, announced on August 10, 2016, that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved granisetron (Sustol) extended-release injection. Granisetron is a serotonin-3 (5-HT3) receptor antagonist indicated in combination with other antiemetics in adults for the prevention ...
As reported by Toni K. Choueiri, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, et al in The Lancet Oncology, the final results of the phase III METEOR trial indicate significantly improved overall survival with cabozantinib (Cabometyx) vs everolimus (Afinitor) in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma...
Juno Therapeutics, Inc., announced on July 12, 2016, that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has removed the clinical hold on the phase II clinical trial of JCAR015 (known as the ROCKET trial; clinicaltrials.gov identifier NCT02535364) in adult patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell...
Rajesh K. Garg, MD, JD, is now President and CEO of Cancer Treatment Centers of America Global, Inc (CTCA). The announcement was made by CTCA earlier this spring. Dr. Garg, who started this new position on June 20, 2016, will also serve as a member of the company’s national Board of Directors. Dr. ...
Juno Therapeutics, Inc, announced on July 12, 2016, that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has removed the clinical hold on the phase II clinical trial of JCAR015 (known as the ROCKET trial) in adult patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Under the ...
On July 7, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Roche cobas HPV Test as the first test for Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) that can be used with cervical cells obtained for a Papanicolau (Pap) test and collected in SurePath Preservative Fluid. The FDA approves HPV tests to be used...
The first clinical trial to compare standard-of-care chemotherapy with molecularly tailored therapy (also known as precision medicine) for metastatic pancreatic cancer is now enrolling patients at multiple sites around the country. Patients who have been treated with one round of chemotherapy for...
Cancer Treatment Centers of America Global, Inc. (CTCA) has announced that Rajesh Garg, MD, JD, a highly regarded health-care industry leader with more than 25 years of experience across the health-care spectrum, will become its President and CEO. His appointment was effective June 20, 2016. He...
Nonprofit Global Oncology, Inc (GO) has announced that Donna Barry has been appointed to be its first Executive Director, effective immediately. U.S. and global investments in improving cancer outcomes are minimal—in 2011, only 1.2% of total development assistance for global health was focused on...
Last June, ASCO published its initial concept for a value framework in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO).1 The framework, developed by ASCO’s Value in Cancer Care Task Force, is designed to provide a standardized approach to assist physicians and patients in assessing the “value” of a new...
As reported by Choueiri et al in The Lancet Oncology, the final results of the phase III METEOR trial indicate significantly improved overall survival with cabozantinib (Cabometyx) vs everolimus (Afinitor) in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) that had progressed after previous...
The American Urological Association (AUA) honored its 2016 AUA award recipients during its 111th Annual Meeting in San Diego, Calfornia. These physician researchers, educators, and organizations were honored for their contributions to the field of medicine, the specialty of urology, and the AUA....
ASCO announced that a total of 58 practices in 39 states and the District of Columbia have joined CancerLinQ™, ASCO’s big data initiative to rapidly improve the quality of care for people with cancer. CancerLinQ is already up and running in a number of practices and drawing on approximately...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On May 13, 2016, lenvatinib (Lenvima) was approved for use in...
Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), has received the Ovarcome Excellence 2016 Award in recognition of her accomplishments in the field of cancer research, and her commitment to increasing public awareness about cancer...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs.On May 18, 2016, the PD-L1 (programmed cell death ligand 1)...
Value framework tools made a splash in 2015, with five different groups unveiling methods to help physicians and patients compare therapies based on efficacy, toxicity, and/or cost. Now these potential users are beginning to examine and debate the tools, including how and whether they will work in...
ASCO announced that a total of 58 practices in 39 states and the District of Columbia have joined CancerLinQ, ASCO’s big data initiative to rapidly improve the quality of care for people with cancer. CancerLinQ is already up and running in a number of practices and drawing on approximately...
A Web-mediated follow-up application (app; Moovcare™) improved advanced lung cancer survival, according to a French multicenter randomized phase III study. Researchers analyzed the association and evolution of self-reported clinical symptoms over time. The median overall survival of patients...
Early findings from a first-in-human clinical trial showed that the antibody-drug conjugate rovalpituzumab tesirine (Rova-T) shows promising efficacy against recurrent small cell lung cancer (SCLC). The treatment, which combines a novel anti-DLL3 antibody with a powerful anticancer agent, halted...
A Canadian-led randomized phase III trial found that adding temozolomide chemotherapy during short-course radiation therapy, followed by monthly maintenance doses of temozolomide, significantly improved survival of elderly patients with glioblastoma, reducing the risk of death by 33%. These data...