The Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance will open for applications for its 2019 Pershing Square Sohn Prize for Young Investigators in Cancer Research on October 1, 2018. At least 6 New York City area–based scientists will each be awarded $200,000 per year for up to 3...
In a Chinese phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Yang et al found that adding neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy to surgery improved survival in locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus. Study Details In the open-label trial, 451 patients with potentially...
In a German phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Chekerov et al found that the addition of sorafenib (Nexavar) to topotecan improved progression-free survival in women with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. Study Details In the multicenter investigator-initiated double-blind trial,...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Geoffrois et al, the European phase III GORTEC (Groupe Oncologie Radiothèrapie Tête et Cou) 2007-02 trial has shown no improvement in progression-free survival with induction chemotherapy followed by cetuximab and radiotherapy (RT) vs...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in combination with pemetrexed (Alimta) and platinum as first-line treatment of patients with metastatic, nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer with no EGFR or ALK genomic tumor aberrations. Pembrolizumab...
An interim analysis of data from a randomized clinical trial of patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive oropharyngeal cancer found that treatment with radiation therapy and cetuximab (Erbitux) is associated with worse overall and progression-free survival compared to the current standard...
In a phase III Children’s Oncology Group study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hawkins et al found that substituting vincristine and irinotecan (VI) for half of vincristine, dactinomycin, and cyclophosphamide (VAC) courses did not improve event-free survival in pediatric...
In a phase II trial funded by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer and reported in The Lancet Oncology, van den Bent et al found no evidence of a survival benefit with the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to temozolomide in patients with a first recurrence of World Health ...
In a German phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Cramer et al found promising response rates with bendamustine followed by obinutuzumab (Gazyva) plus venetoclax (Venclexta) in both treatment-naive and relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). In the trial, patients with an ...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its proposed rule for 2019 Medicare physician reimbursement. CMS estimates that in 2019, the overall impact for the hematology/oncology specialty will be a 4% reduction in reimbursement and a 2% reimbursement reduction for...
GUEST EDITOR Dr. Abraham is the Director of the Breast Oncology Program at Taussig Cancer Institute, and Professor of Medicine, Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic. For this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, spoke with breast cancer surgeon...
In May 2018, daratumumab (Darzalex) was approved for use in combination with VMP (bortezomib, melphalan, and prednisone) in the treatment of patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma who are ineligible for autologous stem cell transplantation.1 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on...
The evolving concept that dietary fat plays an important role in the etiology of human cancer emerged more than 50 years ago. Ernst Wynder, MD, whose seminal epidemiologic work led to identifying smoking as a contributory cause of lung cancer, presented a paper in 1967 showing a decided correlation ...
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 July 13, 2018, enzalutamide (Xtandi) was approved for...
Two studies about postmastectomy breast reconstruction were recently published in JAMA Surgery. One study found overall complication rates of 32.9% at 2 years after reconstruction, with women having autologous reconstruction more likely to have complications than those having implant...
The complication rate among women who underwent postmastectomy breast reconstruction was 32.9% at 2 years postoperatively, and women undergoing autologous reconstruction “had significantly higher odds of developing any complication compared with those undergoing expander-implant reconstruction,”...
Cannabis has been used in health care for millennia, and its use has been well documented, albeit never definitively integrated into clinical practice. Recent societal changes and the increasing acceptance and availability of cannabis have reignited the medical and public debate around its role in...
Although many agents have been able to successfully inhibit the proliferative capacity of cancer cells or disable mutations that spur cancer growth, one area that has proven elusive is the apoptotic pathway—the cell’s means of resisting death. That is until recently. Dysregulation of B-cell...
For patients with cancer, marijuana may be valuable in controlling pain and chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. Furthermore, it may have efficacy as an appetite stimulant. No randomized clinical trial has investigated the utility of whole-plant medical marijuana to alleviate these symptoms in ...
Once dismissed as rare medical miracles that overcame overwhelming odds to thwart cancer, exceptional responders to cancer treatment are now the subject of intense study. In 2015, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) announced the launch of its Exceptional Responders Initiative, with the goal of...
Although programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) blockade is highly effective in Hodgkin lymphoma, not all patients respond, and not all responses are durable. Stephen M. Ansell, MD, PhD, Chair of the Mayo Clinic Lymphoma Group and Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, described...
Although heart failure is an uncommon complication of breast cancer treatment, the risk may be higher in patients treated with certain types of chemotherapy and lower in younger patients, according to a study published by Henry et al in JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging. Researchers studied 16,456...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation for encorafenib (Braftovi) in combination with binimetinib (Mektovi) and cetuximab (Erbitux) for the treatment of patients with BRAF V600E–mutant metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), as detected by...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Hauschild et al identified baseline lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), performance status, disease burden, and gene signature as potential determinants of treatment outcomes in BRAF V600–mutant metastatic melanoma treated with BRAF and/or MEK inhibitors. Study ...
In a Chinese single-center phase II study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Lan et al found a high response rate with oral apatinib plus oral etoposide in patients with platinum-resistant or refractory ovarian cancer. Study Details The study included 35 patients with progression within 6 months...
TAILORx changes the configuration of the ball field and the shape of the ball in deciding which women will be recommended chemotherapy after resection of node-negative, hormone receptor–positive breast cancer. TAILORx was presented by Joseph Sparano, MD, at the 2018 ASCO Plenary Session and...
In 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ipilimumab (Yervoy), an anticytotoxic T-lymphocyte– associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4), the first checkpoint inhibitor for the treatment of advanced melanoma.1 Since then, several more checkpoint inhibitors directed at both the programmed...
In February 2015, there was no indication that my life was about to radically change. I was a practicing attorney and happily raising two young children with my husband. At 40 years old, I was healthy—or so I thought—and had no physical symptoms to alert me to the devastating news that was about to ...
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies focused on neurotoxicities of cancer treatment. These studies focus on the effects of chemotherapy on cognitive function, changes in resting state brain networks after stem cell...
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. This past June, encorafenib (Braftovi) and binimetinib...
Findings in a phase I trial reported in The Lancet Oncology by Pernas and colleagues indicate activity of the combination of the CXCR4 chemokine receptor antagonist balixafortide plus eribulin (Halaven) in previously treated HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer. The CXCR4–stromal cell-derived...
BOOKMARK Title: Toms River: A Story of Science and SalvationAuthor: Dan FaginPublisher: Random HouseOriginal publication date: March 2013Price: $28.00, hardcover, 560 pages The Toms River emerges in the Pine Barrens of northern Ocean County, New Jersey, and zigzags through wetlands, emptying into...
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) provided oncology services to people with cancer who had previously been denied coverage. And for that reason alone, many oncologists supported its passage. However, even though the U.S. health-care system remains in the crosshairs of partisan politics, parties on both ...
Researchers at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and Northwell Health’s Department of Radiation Medicine have identified methods to increase use of the radiation therapy hypofractionation in patients with breast cancer. These findings, published by Gilbo et al...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Oxnard et al found early resistance and a number of competing resistance mechanisms in acquired osimertinib (Tagrisso) resistance associated with loss of the T790M mutation conferring resistance to prior EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) treatment in...
In an analysis of pooled safety data from the PALOMA trials of palbociclib (Ibrance) plus endocrine therapy in hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Diéras et al found no evidence of specific cumulative...
On July 18, 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded the indication for ribociclib (Kisqali), in combination with an aromatase inhibitor for pre/perimenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer, as initial endocrine-based...
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. Ting Bao, MD, DABMA, MS, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, present information on the use of reishi...
Early in 2018, durvalumab (Imfinzi) was approved for the treatment of unresectable stage III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that has not progressed following concurrent platinum-based chemotherapy and radiation therapy.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on a planned interim...
To better understand the causes of resistance to treatment in estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer, the Department of Defense has awarded researchers at Baylor College of Medicine multiple grants to study gene anomalies in estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer that are associated with...
GC4419, A SMALL molecule superoxide dismutase mimetic, reduced the duration, incidence, and severity of chemoradiotherapy-induced mucositis in patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer, with a safety profile comparable to that of placebo. This finding comes from a randomized phase IIb...
FOR THE TREATMENT of lymphoma, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are becoming an important class of drugs, as described at the 2018 Pan Pacific Lymphoma Conference by Brad Kahl, MD, Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis.1 “We have one ADC—brentuximab vedotin...
THE EMERGENCE of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has sparked a wave of optimism in hematologic malignancies, but as experience in using CAR T-cell therapy has grown, new challenges have surfaced. A pioneer in the field, David G. Maloney, MD, PhD, enlightened attendees on these issues ...
BEFORE TOO LONG, oncologists can expect to have an entirely new arsenal in the fight against multiple myeloma. Cutting-edge therapies on the near horizon were described in a presentation by Kenneth Anderson, MD, at the 2018 American Association of Cancer Research’s (AACR’s) inaugural conference on...
WHAT IS THE best choice of treatment for a man with newly diagnosed metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer after treatment with androgen-deprivation therapy—abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) plus prednisone, or enzalutamide (Xtandi)? Both drugs achieve similar cancer control in this setting,...
ON MAY 30, 2018, President Donald J. Trump signed into law the Trickett Wendler, Frank Mongiello, Jordan McLinn, and Matthew Bellina Right to Try Act of 2017.1 This law creates an additional and alternative pathway for patients with a “life-threatening disease or condition” to access...
AS REPORTED in The New England Journal of Medicine by Maha Hussain, MD, of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University, and colleagues, the phase III PROSPER trial has shown a 71% reduction in the risk of metastasis or death with enzalutamide (Xtandi) vs placebo in men ...
In an interim analysis of the French phase III noninferiority Carmena trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Méjean et al found that sunitinib alone was not inferior in overall survival vs nephrectomy followed by sunitinib in patients with intermediate- or poor-risk...
In an analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Grossberg et al found that a single nucleotide polymorphism (C−509T) in the transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1) gene was associated with higher risk of radiation-induced fibrosis in women with early breast cancer. Study Details The...
Results were recently announced from the ASTRAL-1 study evaluating the efficacy and safety of guadecitabine in adults with previously untreated acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who are not eligible for intensive induction chemotherapy. The study did not meet its co-primary endpoints: complete...