Immune checkpoint inhibitors may prove to be effective in treating patients with two rare cancer types—leptomeningeal metastases and angiosarcoma, according to early-phase clinical trials reported at the 2020 Annual Meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), which was held virtually ...
Genetic mutations linked to myeloproliferative neoplasms may emerge in childhood or even in utero, decades before they cause cancer, according to a late-breaking abstract presented today at the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition by Jyoti Nangalia, MBBChir, and ...
In the phase II ZUMA-5 trial, axicabtagene ciloleucel led to responses in 92% of patients with indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma treated with the cellular immunotherapy. These findings were reported by Caron Jacobson, MD, MMSc, and colleagues at the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual...
Stem cell transplants are not frequently offered to older patients with high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). According to a study from the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMTCTN 1102), these patients may indeed achieve a survival benefit from stem cell transplant. As...
For patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma whose disease progressed after at least one prior regimen, the subcutaneous form of daratumumab, given with pomalidomide and dexamethasone, significantly improved progression-free survival vs pomalidomide and low-dose dexamethasone alone....
A systematic meta-analysis has shown that statin users had a significantly reduced risk of colorectal cancer. The study included patients with and without inflammatory bowel disease, which is associated with an increased risk of this type of cancer. The largest chemopreventive effect was observed...
Brooks D. Cash, MD, Chief of Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth in Houston, moderated the plenary session during the virtual edition of the American College of Gastroenterology 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting, where the data were presented. He...
For patients who develop severe diarrhea or colitis while receiving checkpoint inhibitors, the immunosuppressive agent vedolizumab is preferred over infliximab, according to an expert on the topic from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. A retrospective comparison of outcomes with...
Based on early results in clinical trials, interest in the use of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in multiple myeloma has been high, especially for products targeting B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA). During the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program, further support for CAR T-cell...
The SOLAR-1 invited discussant, Fatima Cardoso, MD, Director of the Breast Unit at the Champalimaud Clinical Center in Lisbon and Chair of the ABC Global Alliance, commented: “The overall survival results, though numerically different by almost 8 months, unfortunately do not reach statistical...
The statistically significant benefit of alpelisib in reducing disease progression, as reported at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2 years ago, did not translate into a significant improvement in overall survival, although a numerical 8-month gain was observed in the final ...
“This study highlights an interesting difference between breast cancers that are detected at the time a woman attends a scheduled appointment as part of a national screening program and those that are diagnosed in the interval between screenings,” commented European Breast Cancer Conference...
Breast cancers detected between mammographic screenings carry a worse prognosis than those detected at the time of screening, even when tumor biology is similar, according to research presented at the 12th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC 12), which was held virtually this year.1 The 8-year...
Keerthi Gogineni, MD, MSHP, Assistant Professor of Hematology and a medical oncologist at Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, commented on the long-term follow-up of the MINDACT trial presented at the 12th European Breast Cancer Conference. She noted that, for patients with early-stage...
Long-term analysis of the phase III MINDACT trial, with a median follow-up of 8.7 years, confirmed that the 70-gene signature MammaPrint assay can identify which patients with breast cancer can safely forgo adjuvant chemotherapy, reported Emiel Rutgers, MD, PhD, FRCS, a surgical oncologist at the...
Press briefing moderator and meeting Co-Chair, Emiliano Calvo, MD, Director of the START Madrid Group and Director of Clinical Research at the START Madrid-Centro Integral Oncologico Clara Campal Hospital, stated: “Using drugs that are already approved and in worldwide use, and to be able to...
Angiotensin receptor blockers, commonly used to treat hypertension, may improve outcomes in patients treated with anti–PD-1/L1 agents, according to an observational study of almost 600 patients reported at the virtual 32nd EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics.1 The...
Howard (Jack) West, MD, Associate Clinical Professor in Medical Oncology at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Duarte, California, was impressed with the data from the KRYSTAL-1 trial. “It’s great to see new data on another entrant into the space for patients with KRAS G12C...
Another novel oral KRAS inhibitor—adagrasib (MRTX849)—has shown promise in early clinical trials, according to investigators of the KRYSTAL-1 study who reported findings at the virtual 32nd EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics.1,2 The conference is jointly provided...
William R. Sellers, MD, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Co-Chair of the EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer, commented: “This study is a good example of how our increasing ability to study the human genome easily and in...
Two common genetic variants appear to be linked to toxicity induced by bevacizumab, researchers reported at the 32nd European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC)–National Cancer Institute (NCI)–American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Symposium on Molecular Targets and...
The ASCO Post asked Charles L. Shapiro, MD, Professor of Medicine, Director of Translational Breast Cancer Research, and Director of Cancer Survivorship at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, for his thoughts on the exploratory analysis of PALOMA-3. He first pointed out that the...
The phase III PALOMA-3 trial significantly reduced the risk of disease progression by 50% in patients with hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative advanced breast cancer, but the improvement in overall survival did not reach statistical significance.1 An exploratory subgroup analysis has now shown...
The invited discussant of PRODIGE 13 was Tim Price, MBBS, DHthSc, Professor at the University of Adelaide, Australia, senior consultant medical oncologist, and Director of Medical Oncology and Clinical Cancer Research at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. As he reminded listeners, the current ASCO...
Is intensive monitoring of patients after curative colorectal cancer resection warranted? Not necessarily, according to the findings of PRODIGE 13, reported at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Congress 2020.1 “After curative surgery, the addition of CEA [carcinoembryonic...
Sharing their thoughts on KEYNOTE-355 were Amy Tiersten, MD, Professor of Medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, and Erika Hamilton, MD, Director of the Breast and Gynecologic Research Program at Sarah Cannon Research Institute/Tennessee Oncology, Nashville, who presented...
In the phase III KEYNOTE-355 trial, pembrolizumab combined with several chemotherapy partners yielded a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival vs chemotherapy alone in patients with previously untreated locally advanced or metastatic...
Yet another blow has been dealt for the alkylating agent trabectedin in advanced ovarian cancer. The international phase III INOVATYON study found no improvement in overall or progression-free survival for trabectedin plus pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PEG-LD) vs carboplatin/PEG-LD in patients...
The innovaTV 204 trial’s invited discussant, Ana Oaknin, MD, PhD, Head of the Gynecologic Cancer Program at Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology in Barcelona, was encouraged by the study’s findings. “Of note, the response rate was 24%, the time to response was short, and the median duration of...
The treatment of recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer has not changed much in recent years, but according to preliminary trials presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Congress 2020, checkpoint inhibitors and antibody-drug conjugates may become new options. In the...
SOLO-1’s invited discussant, Jonathan Ledermann, MD, Professor of Medical Oncology at UCL Cancer Institute and University College London Hospitals, predicted that “an overall survival benefit will occur” with maintenance olaparib, based on the study’s long follow-up and encouraging results from key ...
The long-term results of the pivotal SOLO-1 trial have shown that maintenance olaparib more than doubles the 5-year disease-free survival time for patients who have newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer with BRCA mutations, according to an update presented at the European Society for Medical...
The invited discussant of LEAP-004, Bartosz Chmielowski, MD, PhD, Associate Clinical Professor at the University of California Los Angeles Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, commented: “The response rate of 21% was quite impressive for this patient population. Patients previously treated with an...
Checkpoint inhibitors can be lifesaving for many patients with advanced melanoma, but those who experience disease progression currently have few treatment options. The combination of a tyrosine kinase inhibitor and an anti–PD-1 agent may offer some hope in this setting, according to a study of...
Salah-Eddin Al-Batran, MD, Director of the Institute of Clinical Cancer Research and Director of GI Oncology at Krankenhaus Nordwest-University Cancer Center, Frankfurt, Germany, commented on KEYNOTE-590 at a press briefing. Dr. Al-Batran noted that the prognosis for advanced esophageal cancer is...
As first-line therapy for advanced esophageal cancer, pembrolizumab added to chemotherapy improved overall survival in the KEYNOTE-590 population. Not only did patients with high PD-L1 expression benefit, the value of checkpoint inhibition was observed for the whole population, the trial’s...
The KEYNOTE-177 invited discussant, Chiara Cremolini, MD, PhD, of the University of Pisa, Italy, welcomed the patient-reported outcomes of the study, noting that such data are frequently missing. “Unfortunately, quality of life is an often-disregarded issue in colorectal cancer clinical trials,”...
In KEYNOTE-177, the anti–PD-L1 antibody pembrolizumab reduced the risk of disease progression by 40% vs chemotherapy in a targeted subset of previously untreated patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Now, in terms of health-related quality of life, pembrolizumab is also the clear favorite,...
The encouraging results of the phase III ASCENT trial suggest that sacituzumab govitecan has clearly earned a place in the treatment algorithm for advanced triple-negative breast cancer, said the study’s invited discussant, Fatima Cardoso, MD, Director of the Breast Unit at the Champalimaud...
Based on results from a phase I/II clinical trial, the antibody drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan was recently granted accelerated approval in the treatment of patients with advanced triple-negative breast cancer, contingent on a larger study confirming its benefit. The confirmatory phase III...
In 2020, health-care providers from all disciplines are facing challenges never before encountered in the modern era of medicine. Advanced practitioners (APs) are playing critical roles in developing protocols, managing health-care teams, and delivering hands-on patient care. JADPRO Live, the...
The value of adjuvant therapy for patients with resected stage III or IV melanoma—in the form of pembrolizumab and nivolumab—continues to be observed after approximately 4 years from the start of therapy, according to Rodabe N. Amaria, MD, Associate Professor of Melanoma Medical Oncology at The...
The benefit of anti–PD-1 antibodies in the adjuvant treatment of patients with stage III or stage IV melanoma continues to be observed at around 4 years for both pembrolizumab and nivolumab, according to updates of pivotal trials presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual ...
COMBI-i’s invited discussant, Bartosz Chmielowski, MD, PhD, Associate Clinical Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, said this study is one of three key trials in which checkpoint inhibitors were combined with BRAF and MEK inhibitors. “This is...
Patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma harboring BRAF V600 mutations did not benefit from the addition of the anti–PD-1 antibody spartalizumab to dabrafenib and trametinib in the COMBI-i trial, which was presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Congress...
The Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer, sponsored by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and held virtually this year, showcased cutting-edge discoveries and promising advances in the understanding and treatment of pancreatic cancer, reported by some of the world’s foremost...
The overall survival benefit for PD-L1 CPS ≥ 5 tumors in CheckMate 649 is a game-changer. An oxaliplatin doublet plus chemotherapy should become a standard of care for these patients,” according to Elizabeth Smyth, MD, an oncology consultant at Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in...
As first-line treatment for advanced gastric cancer, nivolumab plus chemotherapy leads to significantly improved progression-free and overall survival over chemotherapy alone, investigators reported during a Presidential Symposium of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Congress ...
The results of monarchE were discussed by George W. Sledge, Jr, MD, Professor of Medicine and Chief of Oncology at Stanford University Medical Center, who offered some possibilities as to why its results were positive and those for palbociclib, in the phase III PALLAS trial, were “resoundingly...
For the first time, an inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 (CDK4/6) has reduced the risk of invasive disease recurrence in patients with early breast cancer when combined with standard endocrine therapy, investigators reported at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual...